State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 26,498 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 32.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,349 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,498 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Candriam S.C.A. grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.0% in the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 948,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,192,000 after purchasing an additional 36,369 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 36,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,750,000 after acquiring an additional 1,235 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 952,762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,409,000 after acquiring an additional 54,400 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 23,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,115,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the period. Finally, Privium Fund Management B.V. grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Privium Fund Management B.V. now owns 247,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,162,000 after acquiring an additional 20,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on IONS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Leerink Partners raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned 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 $60.68.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were 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 directly owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,104,384. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $817,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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 transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,750 shares of company stock worth $732,371. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $42.36 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.55 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 7.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.95 and a twelve month high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. The company 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.68 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.