142,641 Shares in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Purchased by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 142,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,183,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 4.3 %

IONS stock traded down $2.19 on Friday, hitting $49.13. 1,352,517 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,269,613. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.95 and a 12-month high of $54.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $44.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.43. 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 has a market cap of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.40 and a beta of 0.40.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.95) by $0.50. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 109.65% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. The firm had revenue of $225.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on IONS. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $817,300. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.