Groupama Asset Managment Boosts Stock Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,017,191 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 101,131 shares during the quarter. Groupama Asset Managment owned about 0.64% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $35,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% in the 3rd 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted 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 buying an additional 128,619 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 222.5% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 23,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $836,000 after buying an additional 16,508 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 13.6% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 650,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,070,000 after acquiring an additional 77,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $673,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered 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 research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.37.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 8,870 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.81, for a total value of $291,024.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,539,706.85. This represents a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $1,091,310.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 207,396 shares in the company, valued at $6,767,331.48. The trade was a 13.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 over the last 90 days. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $30.17 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $32.50 and its 200 day moving average is $35.63. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.61 and a fifty-two week high of $52.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.47. The company has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of -9.92 and a beta of 0.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.12 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current 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.