E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Sells 1,231 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,865 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,231 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,275,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,518,000 after buying an additional 33,012 shares during the last quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,158,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 17,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $875,000 after purchasing an additional 1,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 80.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,406,000 after purchasing an additional 12,357 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total transaction of $166,649.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $816,649.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $816,649.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total value of $256,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $698,137.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,393 shares of company stock worth $440,127. 2.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:IONS traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $40.16. 1,527,126 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,121,470. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a current ratio of 5.90. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.74 and a 200 day moving average of $46.87. The company has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.69 and a beta of 0.41. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.79 and a twelve month high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $119.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.42 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 46.32% and a negative return on equity of 90.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.87) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on IONS. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.54.

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.