Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. Sells 21,021 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. cut its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 93,571 shares of the company's stock after selling 21,021 shares during the quarter. Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. owned 0.06% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $7,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 72.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 652,518 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,686,000 after purchasing an additional 274,310 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 659,435 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,895,000 after purchasing an additional 39,794 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 30.1% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 9,832 shares of the company's stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 2,277 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 47.8% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 9,254 shares of the company's stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,991 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 215,048 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total transaction of $15,569,475.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 92,832 shares in the company, valued at $6,721,036.80. The trade was a 69.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Spencer R. Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.67, for a total value of $605,360.00. Following the sale, the director owned 156,013 shares in the company, valued at $11,805,503.71. This represents a 4.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 256,100 shares of company stock worth $18,613,444 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $108.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $111.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $100.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $74.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $12.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -36.03 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.81. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.78 and a 1-year high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.93) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company's proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis' pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.

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