Inceptionr LLC Boosts Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Inceptionr LLC boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 134.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,850 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,229 shares during the quarter. Inceptionr LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,412,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jain Global LLC lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3,037.4% in the third quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 225,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,768,000 after acquiring an additional 218,544 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 248.3% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 217,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,238,000 after purchasing an additional 155,334 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 230.4% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 878,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,449,000 after purchasing an additional 612,362 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 161.3% in the third quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 155,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,192,000 after purchasing an additional 96,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 548.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 33,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,643,000 after purchasing an additional 28,259 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on IONS. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Bank of America upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $73.32 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.12 billion, a PE ratio of -35.42 and a beta of 0.37. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $75.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.82. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.78 and a 12 month high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The company had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The firm’s revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.93) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 4,902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.17, for a total transaction of $368,483.34. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,713 shares in the company, valued at $1,782,506.21. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Brian Birchler sold 973 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $73,013.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 67,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,065,200. This represents a 1.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 256,100 shares of company stock valued at $18,613,444 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

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.