Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 307 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 1.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,330 shares of the company’s stock after selling 307 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $826,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 948.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,875 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ IONS opened at $42.76 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.95 and a 12 month high of $54.44. The stock has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.01 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $47.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.82. The company has a current ratio of 7.61, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67.

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

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Leerink Partners upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded 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. TD Cowen upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.