Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 239,269 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 31.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 514,617 shares of the company's stock after selling 239,269 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.31% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $38,643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 72.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 652,518 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,686,000 after acquiring an additional 274,310 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 659,435 shares of the company's stock worth $19,895,000 after purchasing an additional 39,794 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 30.1% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 9,832 shares of the company's stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 2,277 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $220,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 47.8% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 9,254 shares of the company's stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,991 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial set a $87.00 price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $130.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Leerink Partners increased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $95.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $56.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.10. The stock has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.32 and a beta of 0.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.03 and a 52-week high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The firm had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.93) earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total value of $2,107,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 77,114 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,250,089.70. This represents a 25.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 362 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.30, for a total value of $30,516.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,096 shares in the company, valued at $1,862,692.80. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551 in the last ninety days. 1.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals 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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