Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC Buys 524 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,476 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 524 shares during the quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baker BROS. Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth $8,952,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,922,000 after purchasing an additional 183,814 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $5,617,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 967.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 141,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,961,000 after purchasing an additional 128,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,443,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,807,000 after purchasing an additional 114,914 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total value of $39,046.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,819,525.75. This represents a 2.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael R. Hayden acquired 5,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $36.22 per share, with a total value of $181,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,219 shares in the company, valued at $1,275,632.18. This represents a 16.55 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 4.1 %

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $34.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 8.47 and a quick ratio of 8.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $32.71 and a 200-day moving average of $36.59. The company has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a PE ratio of -11.28 and a beta of 0.28. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $30.23 and a one year high of $52.34.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 100.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.56.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company 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.