Boone Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 519,977 Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Boone Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 519,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,229,000. Ionis Pharmaceuticals accounts for about 9.6% of Boone Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in IONS. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Michael R. Hayden bought 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $53.38 per share, for a total transaction of $800,700.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,014,220. This represents a 375.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 15,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.46, for a total transaction of $1,281,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 75,018 shares in the company, valued at $6,411,038.28. This represents a 16.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $63.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.31 and a beta of 0.41. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $41.94 and a twelve month high of $86.74. The company has a current ratio of 7.89, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $63.55 and a 200 day moving average of $71.62.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial set a $87.00 price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $113.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. HC Wainwright lowered their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.