Jupiter Topco LLC Purchases New Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 68,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,408,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,420,918,000 after acquiring an additional 5,238,571 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 19,941.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,321,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,532,000 after acquiring an additional 1,314,752 shares in the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% during the fourth quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 1,791,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,753,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,043 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7,219.3% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 958,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,727,000 after purchasing an additional 945,729 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $54,253,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Guggenheim lowered their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial set a $87.00 target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IONS stock opened at $60.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 7.89 and a quick ratio of 7.73. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $42.13 and a 1-year high of $86.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $62.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.12.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results 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. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.76% and a negative return on equity of 111.08%. The business had revenue of $267.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Michael R. Hayden purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.30, for a total value of $30,516.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,862,692.80. This trade represents a 1.61% 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 a total of 225,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,711,191 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

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.