Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Cuts Stock Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA cut its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 52.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 620,798 shares of the company’s stock after selling 682,703 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned approximately 0.39% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $21,703,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $575,880,000 after buying an additional 1,416,781 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,922,000 after purchasing an additional 183,814 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,948,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,481,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,791,000 after purchasing an additional 38,420 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,332,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,376,000 after purchasing an additional 45,300 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 3.1 %

IONS opened at $30.17 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.63. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.61 and a 52 week high of $52.34. The company has a quick ratio of 8.82, a current ratio of 8.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The stock has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of -9.92 and a beta of 0.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total transaction of $39,046.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,245 shares in the company, valued at $1,819,525.75. This represents a 2.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 7,154 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total value of $234,937.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 45,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,499,802.80. This represents a 13.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.37.

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.