Bank of New York Mellon Corp Takes $43.01 Million Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon acquired 542,454 Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares worth approximately $43.01 million, while institutional investors collectively owned 93.86% of the company.
• Ionis reported a quarterly loss of $0.69 per share, better than the expected $1.08 loss, and revenue of $267.95 million. However, revenue fell 40.7% year over year, and analysts project a full-year loss of $3.57 per share.
• The stock opened at $62.43, below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $94.15, while insiders sold roughly $18.3 million of shares over the past three months.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 542,454 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,011,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.33% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $62.43 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of -18.04 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a current ratio of 7.89. The business's fifty day moving average is $63.31 and its 200 day moving average is $71.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $42.13 and a fifty-two week high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.08) by $0.39. The business had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.10 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 111.08% and a negative net margin of 64.76%.Ionis Pharmaceuticals's revenue for the quarter was down 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on IONS. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a "peer perform" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $111.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total value of $4,029,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 245,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,790,566.89. This represents a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.41, for a total transaction of $4,466,704.86. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,458 shares in the company, valued at $1,648,641.78. The trade was a 73.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by company 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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