E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Lowers Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,865 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,231 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of IONS. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $48,399,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 92.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,760,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,862,000 after purchasing an additional 845,902 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 154.5% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 655,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,728,000 after purchasing an additional 397,897 shares during the last quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $15,177,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,329,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $816,649.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total transaction of $256,260.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $698,137.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total transaction of $166,649.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $816,649.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,393 shares of company stock worth $440,127 in the last ninety days. 2.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ IONS traded down $0.77 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $40.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,527,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,121,470. The company has a current ratio of 5.90, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.87. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.79 and a 52 week high of $54.44. The company has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a PE ratio of -15.69 and a beta of 0.41.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.10) by $0.12. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 46.32% and a negative return on equity of 90.29%. The company had revenue of $119.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.42 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.87) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.