Capital World Investors Has $1.42 Billion Stock Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Capital World Investors raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 41.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,238,571 shares during the period. Capital World Investors owned about 11.09% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $1,420,918,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 608.4% in the 4th quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $111.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Spencer R. Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.67, for a total transaction of $605,360.00. Following the sale, the director owned 156,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,805,503.71. This trade represents a 4.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.27, for a total value of $381,350.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 51,344 shares in the company, valued at $3,916,006.88. The trade was a 8.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 327,480 shares of company stock worth $24,030,004 in the last three months. 1.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

IONS stock opened at $74.48 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $74.95 and its 200-day moving average is $77.82. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The company has a market cap of $12.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.98 and a beta of 0.37. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.78 and a twelve month high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. The company had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.93) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.78 EPS for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals 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.