Eventide Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 575,000 Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Eventide Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 575,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,488,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,420,918,000 after acquiring an additional 5,238,571 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,148,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,158,000 after acquiring an additional 82,560 shares in the last quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 2,901,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,798,000 after acquiring an additional 9,268 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,541,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,975,000 after acquiring an additional 21,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,418,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,476,000 after acquiring an additional 25,367 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ IONS opened at $73.28 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.78 and a fifty-two week high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.77. The stock has a market cap of $12.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.40 and a beta of 0.37.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. The company had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.93) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Shannon L. Devers sold 6,193 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.05, for a total value of $458,591.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 16,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,210,569.40. This trade represents a 27.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 4,902 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.17, for a total value of $368,483.34. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,782,506.21. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 256,100 shares of company stock worth $18,613,444. 1.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.90.

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.