Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Purchases Shares of 9,962 Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 9,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $652,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in IONS. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% in the 3rd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 44.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on IONS. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $89.00 price objective (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $86.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Leerink Partners upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Brian Birchler sold 6,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.03, for a total transaction of $513,042.37. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 66,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,500,488.41. The trade was a 8.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 85,089 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.93, for a total transaction of $7,056,430.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 80,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,658,698.49. The trade was a 51.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 481,356 shares of company stock valued at $38,987,621. 2.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IONS stock opened at $80.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $80.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.76. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.95 and a 52-week high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a current ratio of 2.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -47.69 and a beta of 0.29.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Profile

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.