Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $38.64 Million Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 31.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 514,617 shares of the company’s stock after selling 239,269 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $38,643,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.41, for a total transaction of $4,466,704.86. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,458 shares in the company, valued at $1,648,641.78. This trade represents a 73.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 245,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,790,566.89. This represents a 16.92% 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 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $113.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $56.55 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $71.60 and a 200-day moving average of $75.51. 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 stock has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a PE ratio of -27.32 and a beta of 0.36. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.03 and a 52-week high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.93) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 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.