California Public Employees Retirement System Has $19.18 Million Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 19.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 255,485 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 42,117 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $19,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Leerink Partners raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “peer perform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 3.4%

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $55.87 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.65. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.03 and a 12 month high of $86.74. The stock has a market cap of $9.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.99 and a beta of 0.36.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The business had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.56 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.93) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.41, for a total value of $4,466,704.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,648,641.78. The trade was a 73.04% 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, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was 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 owned 245,571 shares in the company, valued at $19,790,566.89. This represents a 16.92% 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 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

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.