First Trust Advisors LP Sells 56,876 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 10.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 468,363 shares of the company’s stock after selling 56,876 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $35,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth $38,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 5,536 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.58, for a total transaction of $462,698.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 75,018 shares in the company, valued at $6,270,004.44. This trade represents a 6.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Allene M. Diaz sold 10,111 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.42, for a total transaction of $863,681.62. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $325,535.62. This represents a 72.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551 in the last quarter. 1.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $55.96 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $71.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.31. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.03 and a fifty-two week high of $86.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.03 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.09.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.93) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on IONS shares. Wolfe Research reissued a “peer perform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Leerink Partners increased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.90.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.