Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys New Stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 38,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,066,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Silvant Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total transaction of $4,029,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 245,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,790,566.89. This represents a 16.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Michael R. Hayden bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $51.60 per share, for a total transaction of $258,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 24,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,238,400. The trade was a 26.32% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551 over the last three months. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $61.05 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 7.73, a current ratio of 7.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $42.13 and a 52-week high of $86.74. The company has a 50 day moving average of $63.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.38. The company has a market capitalization of $10.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.64 and a beta of 0.41.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.08) by $0.39. The company had revenue of $267.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.10 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.76% and a negative return on equity of 111.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut 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. Wolfe Research restated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.15.

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.