Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Invests $2.34 Million in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 35,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,340,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of IONS. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 44.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $451,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 231.8% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 740 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 89,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.11, for a total transaction of $6,703,492.39. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 59,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,480,837.27. This trade represents a 59.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Shannon L. Devers sold 16,777 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.91, for a total transaction of $1,357,427.07. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 17,494 shares in the company, valued at $1,415,439.54. The trade was a 48.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 242,561 shares of company stock valued at $18,370,838 over the last 90 days. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on IONS. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $59.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $86.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.19.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $79.67 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $77.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.00. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.95 and a 1-year high of $83.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $12.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -47.14 and a beta of 0.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.80) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.35. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 44.26% and a negative net margin of 26.45%.The company had revenue of $156.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.75 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.95) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.