Hsbc Holdings PLC Decreases Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Hsbc Holdings PLC decreased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 40.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,941 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,515 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $216,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3,184.3% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 216,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,122,000 after purchasing an additional 209,848 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $228,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 5,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $130.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $105.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total value of $4,029,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 245,571 shares in the company, valued at $19,790,566.89. The trade was a 16.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 15,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.46, for a total transaction of $1,281,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 75,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,411,038.28. The trade was a 16.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 244,038 shares of company stock worth $19,139,399. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Here are the key news stories impacting Ionis Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Ionis and AstraZeneca disclosed that the Phase 3 CARDIO-TTRansform trial for eplontersen in ATTR-CM failed to hit its main efficacy goal, a major setback for a key partnered drug. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reuters reported that the AstraZeneca-Ionis heart drug also missed its main goal of reducing cardiovascular deaths and recurrent heart problems, reinforcing investor concerns about the program. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several insiders, including an executive vice president and a director, disclosed stock sales under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans, adding to near-term caution.
• Negative Sentiment: Traders bought an unusually large number of put options, suggesting some market participants are positioning for further downside.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple analysts cut price targets on IONS, but most kept Buy/Overweight ratings, indicating valuation confidence even after the setback. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: HC Wainwright, Morgan Stanley, Canaccord Genuity, and Needham all lowered targets, with Needham trimming its target to $86 from $105 while maintaining a Buy rating. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Ionis updated FY2026 revenue guidance to $875 million-$900 million, roughly in line with expectations, which does little to offset the clinical disappointment.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

IONS stock traded down $6.02 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.25. The company had a trading volume of 11,439,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,922,914. The company has a market cap of $9.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.14 and a beta of 0.36. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.03 and a twelve month high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.27.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.93) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.73 earnings per share 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.