CenterBook Partners LP Acquires Shares of 153,949 Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 153,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,179,000. CenterBook Partners LP owned 0.10% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Shannon L. Devers sold 6,193 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.05, for a total transaction of $458,591.65. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 16,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,210,569.40. This represents a 27.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 4,902 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.17, for a total value of $368,483.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,713 shares in the company, valued at $1,782,506.21. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, April 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, April 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of IONS opened at $74.48 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.98 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.10. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.78 and a 52-week high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 firm posted ($0.93) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.78 EPS for the current fiscal 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.