Granite Investment Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Granite Investment Partners LLC lowered its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 114,090 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,054 shares during the quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC owned 0.08% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $5,438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 948.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 2,875 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $817,300. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $817,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at $4,104,384. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,750 shares of company stock valued at $732,371. Insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $42.76 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.95 and a 1-year high of $54.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67, a current ratio of 7.61 and a quick ratio of 7.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $47.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.01 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONS has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.68.

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.