35,774 Shares in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Purchased by Stanley Laman Group Ltd.

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 35,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,340,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,023,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $10,650,000. CWM LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 105.3% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 18,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,182,000 after buying an additional 9,268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 89,249 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.11, for a total value of $6,703,492.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 59,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,480,837.27. This represents a 59.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph H. Wender sold 28,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.82, for a total transaction of $2,262,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 36,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,912,348.70. The trade was a 43.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 242,561 shares of company stock worth $18,370,838 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $79.67 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $12.90 billion, a PE ratio of -47.14 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a 50 day moving average of $77.40 and a 200-day moving average of $61.00. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.95 and a 1-year high of $83.61.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.35. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 26.45% and a negative return on equity of 44.26%. The business had revenue of $156.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.95) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONS has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $49.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Leerink Partners boosted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.19.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.