Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) is Bellevue Group AG’s Largest Position

Bellevue Group AG decreased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,299,514 shares of the company’s stock after selling 414,473 shares during the period. Ionis Pharmaceuticals accounts for 5.5% of Bellevue Group AG’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Bellevue Group AG owned about 5.69% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $359,784,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of IONS. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.18.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total value of $256,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $698,137.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS stock traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $51.45. 766,354 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,389,773. The company has a quick ratio of 7.28, a current ratio of 7.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15. The company has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.27 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.43. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.95 and a 1-year high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.12. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 107.64% and a negative net margin of 49.49%. The business had revenue of $119.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.87) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.