Entropy Technologies LP Makes New $2.04 Million Investment in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 27,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,043,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 36.6% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 305,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,944,000 after acquiring an additional 81,942 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 11,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $847,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Florida Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,944,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 51.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 267,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,056,000 after purchasing an additional 91,180 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $113.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, July 17th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.90.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total transaction of $4,029,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 245,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,790,566.89. The trade was a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total transaction of $2,107,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 77,114 shares in the company, valued at $6,250,089.70. This trade represents a 25.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $56.55 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.49. The company has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.32 and a beta of 0.36. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.03 and a 52-week high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.93) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.