California Public Employees Retirement System Has $10.60 Million Stock Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 68.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 209,436 shares of the company’s stock after selling 445,935 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.15% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $10,595,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 95.7% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,000 after acquiring an additional 1,795 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $210,000. Finally, Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $224,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $43.01 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.09. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $34.32 and a one year high of $54.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18, a current ratio of 5.90 and a quick ratio of 5.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.80 and a beta of 0.39.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by $0.72. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 90.29% and a negative net margin of 46.32%. The firm had revenue of $325.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.01 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.37) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 113.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,907 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.56, for a total transaction of $94,510.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,324 shares in the company, valued at $1,701,097.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 23,501 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.37, for a total value of $1,160,244.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,597,193.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,907 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.56, for a total transaction of $94,510.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,324 shares in the company, valued at $1,701,097.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,926 shares of company stock worth $1,543,895. Insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. 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. StockNews.com upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.08.

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.