Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 11,875 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 12.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 81,876 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,875 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $6,148,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,420,918,000 after acquiring an additional 5,238,571 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,148,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,158,000 after purchasing an additional 82,560 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,987,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,370,000 after purchasing an additional 258,155 shares during the last quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 2,901,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,798,000 after purchasing an additional 9,268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baker BROS. Advisors LP lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% in the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 1,791,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,753,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,043 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. HC Wainwright dropped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Barclays cut their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $130.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.05.

Trending Headlines about Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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

• Negative Sentiment: Ionis and partner AstraZeneca’s Phase 3 CARDIO-TTRansform trial missed its primary endpoint, sparking a sharp selloff and renewed investor concerns about the company’s clinical pipeline. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms announced investigations into possible securities-law issues related to how Ionis disclosed the trial results, adding an overhang for investors. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Levi & Korsinsky also said it is investigating Ionis after the trial failure, reinforcing concerns that litigation risk could rise. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Biogen fell after sharing additional mid-stage data on the Ionis-partnered Alzheimer’s drug, another reminder that partner-program readouts can move sentiment on Ionis-linked assets. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: HC Wainwright trimmed some forward earnings estimates for Ionis but kept a Buy rating and $125 price target, suggesting analysts still see upside despite near-term volatility. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Ionis began dosing in its Phase I/II ASCEND study of ION337 in Dravet syndrome, a small positive pipeline update, though it is unlikely to offset the impact of the CARDIO-TTRansform setback. Article Title

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS stock opened at $54.93 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $75.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.90. The company has a market capitalization of $9.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.54 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. 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 (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The company had revenue of $246.09 million for 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%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.93) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total value of $2,107,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 77,114 shares in the company, valued at $6,250,089.70. This trade represents a 25.21% 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 239,038 shares of company stock worth $18,758,049. 1.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.