Quest Partners LLC Sells 924 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Quest Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 40.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,373 shares of the company’s stock after selling 924 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $65,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,378 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 35.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 23,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,115,000 after buying an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $953,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $41.51 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.30 and a beta of 0.39. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.95 and a 52-week high of $54.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a current ratio of 7.61.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.47. The business had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $152.35 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.90% and a negative return on equity of 115.66%. The firm’s revenue was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $116,640.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,104,384. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at $817,300. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $116,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,104,384. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,750 shares of company stock valued at $732,371. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONS has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.68.

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.