Amalgamated Bank Increases Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,957 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 83.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew 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 valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,875 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on IONS shares. TD Cowen lifted their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets cut Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $60.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Leerink Partners raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,194 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.92, for a total transaction of $45,276.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,278,396.96. The trade was a 3.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 6,630 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.05, for a total value of $252,271.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 167,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,369,303.65. The trade was a 3.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,197 shares of company stock worth $315,310. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $34.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 8.91 and a quick ratio of 8.82. The company has a market cap of $5.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.07 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $39.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.76. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.24 and a 1-year high of $54.44.

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.