Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Shares Purchased by Kennedy Capital Management LLC

Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 9.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 249,527 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 21,102 shares during the quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $10,817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $213,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 948.8% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 2,875 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 41,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after buying an additional 1,099 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $765,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth $255,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.9 %

IONS traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $49.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,079,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,218,655. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15, a current ratio of 7.37 and a quick ratio of 7.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.79 and a beta of 0.40. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.95 and a 1-year high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.10) by $0.12. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 49.49% and a negative return on equity of 107.64%. The company had revenue of $119.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.42 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.87) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at $698,137.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IONS has been the topic of several analyst reports. SVB Leerink upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $62.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.18.

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.