Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning Sells 2,746 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning cut its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 34.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,287 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,746 shares during the quarter. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of IONS. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 162.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,616,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,573,000 after buying an additional 2,856,353 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,288,000. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,068,000. First Turn Management LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,044,000. Finally, C WorldWide Group Holding A S bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,177,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IONS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.64.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $45.60 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.15, a current ratio of 7.37 and a quick ratio of 7.28. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.95 and a 1-year high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $119.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.42 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 107.64% and a negative net margin of 49.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.87) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total value of $256,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $698,137.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $816,649.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 6,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.71, for a total value of $256,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $698,137.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

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.