Kennedy Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 37.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 223,278 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,202 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC owned about 0.14% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $7,806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,880,000 after purchasing an additional 1,416,781 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,687,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,976,000 after acquiring an additional 18,890 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $59,948,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,481,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,791,000 after purchasing an additional 38,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,017,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,561,000 after purchasing an additional 101,131 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 8,870 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,539,706.85. The trade was a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $1,091,310.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 207,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,767,331.48. This trade represents a 13.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439. 2.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of 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 for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.72.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $26.71 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $23.95 and a one year high of $52.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.79 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.47.

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

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.