339,967 Shares in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Bought by Freestone Grove Partners LP

Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 339,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,956,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Allworth Financial LP bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $43,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.5%

IONS stock opened at $62.43 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $42.13 and a twelve month high of $86.74. The company has a quick ratio of 7.73, a current ratio of 7.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The firm has a market cap of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of -18.04 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day moving average of $63.31 and a 200 day moving average of $71.46.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.08) by $0.39. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 111.08% and a negative net margin of 64.76%.The business had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.10 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 40.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michael R. Hayden purchased 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $53.38 per share, with a total value of $800,700.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,014,220. This trade represents a 375.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,648,641.78. This trade represents a 73.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months, insiders sold 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup cut 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, July 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, June 15th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.15.

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.