C WorldWide Group Holding A S Acquires New Stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

C WorldWide Group Holding A S acquired a new position in shares of 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 300,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,177,000. C WorldWide Group Holding A S owned about 0.21% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Truist Financial Corp purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $504,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $458,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 81,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,141,000 after buying an additional 4,586 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 27,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,366,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on IONS. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wolfe Research raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.08.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS traded down $0.25 on Friday, hitting $41.59. The company had a trading volume of 556,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 856,032. The company has a current ratio of 5.90, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18. The company has a market cap of $6.06 billion, a PE ratio of -16.25 and a beta of 0.39. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.32 and a 52-week high of $54.44. The business has a 50 day moving average of $43.28 and a 200 day moving average of $47.16.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.78) by $0.72. The company had revenue of $325.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.01 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 46.32% and a negative return on equity of 90.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 113.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.37) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 23,501 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.37, for a total value of $1,160,244.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,597,193.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 23,501 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.37, for a total transaction of $1,160,244.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 174,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,597,193.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 2,125 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.54, for a total transaction of $105,272.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 92,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,602,513.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,699 shares of company stock valued at $2,104,091. Company insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.