Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 732,871 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 17.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,522,203 shares of the company’s stock after selling 732,871 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $152,689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 948.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after acquiring an additional 2,875 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 41,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,099 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth about $765,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth about $255,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 67.4% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 27,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,207,000 after acquiring an additional 11,210 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:IONS traded down $0.88 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $50.57. 163,115 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,213,971. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15, a quick ratio of 7.28 and a current ratio of 7.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $43.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.43. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $35.95 and a one year high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.12. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 107.64% and a negative net margin of 49.49%. The firm had revenue of $119.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.42 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.87) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. SVB Leerink raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.18.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,300. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.