Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Has $12.31 Million Stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lowered its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 13.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 352,140 shares of the company’s stock after selling 54,730 shares during the quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $12,311,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,922,000 after acquiring an additional 183,814 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,481,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,791,000 after acquiring an additional 38,420 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,332,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,376,000 after acquiring an additional 45,300 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 916,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 36,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 13.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on IONS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.56.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $34.30 on Tuesday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.23 and a 52 week high of $52.34. The firm has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.28 and a beta of 0.28. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.59. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. The business had revenue of $227.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 100.05%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total transaction of $39,046.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,245 shares in the company, valued at $1,819,525.75. This represents a 2.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 38,843 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.65, for a total transaction of $1,229,380.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 180,683 shares in the company, valued at $5,718,616.95. The trade was a 17.69 % 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 worth $3,608,439 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

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.