Marshall Wace LLP Acquires 157,756 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 1,021.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 173,199 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 157,756 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.12% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $8,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 70.6% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 24,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,044,000 after buying an additional 9,965 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $630,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth approximately $765,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 260,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,189,000 after purchasing an additional 31,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 67.4% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 27,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,207,000 after purchasing an additional 11,210 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on IONS. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Leerink Partnrs raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Leerink Partners raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $62.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.56.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

IONS stock opened at $40.85 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $46.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.73. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.95 and a fifty-two week high of $54.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67, a current ratio of 7.61 and a quick ratio of 7.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of -15.30 and a beta of 0.39.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. The business had revenue of $225.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.35 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 115.66% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.68 EPS for the current year.

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.