Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Shares Acquired by GW&K Investment Management LLC

GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 198.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 786,668 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 522,661 shares during the quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $62,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on IONS shares. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $111.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.90.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 4,902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.17, for a total transaction of $368,483.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,782,506.21. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Spencer R. Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.67, for a total transaction of $605,360.00. Following the sale, the director owned 156,013 shares in the company, valued at $11,805,503.71. The trade was a 4.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 256,100 shares of company stock worth $18,613,444. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $74.58 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $74.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.81. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.78 and a 1-year high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.09. The firm has a market cap of $12.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.03 and a beta of 0.37.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.93) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.78 EPS for the current year.

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.