Millennium Management LLC Decreases Stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Millennium Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 78.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 128,215 shares of the company’s stock after selling 454,964 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned 0.09% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $6,111,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of IONS. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 35.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $363,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 23,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,115,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.4% in the second quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $489,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.9% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were 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 approximately $4,104,384. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares in the company, valued at $817,300. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 shares were 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,750 shares of company stock worth $732,371. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ IONS opened at $37.95 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $44.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $35.95 and a one year high of $54.44. The firm has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a PE ratio of -14.21 and a beta of 0.38. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $225.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.35 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 115.66% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals 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.