Van ECK Associates Corp Has $2.40 Million Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 44.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,264 shares of the company’s stock after selling 40,837 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 948.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after acquiring an additional 2,875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $202,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on IONS. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Leerink Partners upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.68.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $46.89 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 7.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67. The firm has a market cap of $6.84 billion, a PE ratio of -17.56 and a beta of 0.40. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.95 and a 12 month high of $54.44. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $47.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.00.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 115.66% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. The business had revenue of $225.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at $817,300. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $817,300. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $116,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,104,384. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,750 shares of company stock worth $732,371. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.