Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Shares Sold by Aberdeen Group plc

Aberdeen Group plc reduced its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 406,694 shares of the company’s stock after selling 39,503 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned about 0.26% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $16,247,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in IONS. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $488,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,006,334 shares in the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $57,727,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 291.1% during the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,075,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,451,000 after acquiring an additional 800,600 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 660.7% during the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 500,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,099,000 after buying an additional 434,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 72.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 652,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,686,000 after buying an additional 274,310 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 57,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.24, for a total transaction of $3,777,396.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 79,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,196,822.68. This trade represents a 42.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 203,814 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.32, for a total value of $12,294,060.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 180,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,858,142.88. This represents a 53.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 753,986 shares of company stock valued at $45,921,435. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IONS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $83.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $71.37 on Wednesday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.95 and a 1 year high of $72.15. The stock has a market cap of $11.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.79 and a beta of 0.33. The business has a fifty day moving average of $56.08 and a 200-day moving average of $42.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a current ratio of 2.87.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 45.29% and a negative net margin of 28.25%.The company had revenue of $452.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $270.90 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.45) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 100.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.