BVF Inc. IL Buys Shares of 1,913,385 Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Key Points

• BVF Inc. IL has acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, purchasing approximately 1.91 million shares valued at around $57.7 million, making it the 9th largest holding in their portfolio.
• Institutional investors currently hold 93.86% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals' stock, with several hedge funds recently increasing their stakes in the company.
• Analysts have upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals with a consensus price target of $64.73, reflecting an average rating of "Moderate Buy" among various brokerages.

BVF Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,913,385 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $57,727,000. Ionis Pharmaceuticals comprises about 2.4% of BVF Inc. IL's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. BVF Inc. IL owned approximately 1.20% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 45.6% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at $60,000. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 18.7% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1,722.5% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 3,244 shares of the company's stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 3,066 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ IONS traded up $1.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $61.23. 3,196,401 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,992,234. The company has a market capitalization of $9.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.28 and a beta of 0.28. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.37. The company has a quick ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.95 and a 12-month high of $62.08.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $452.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $270.90 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 45.29% and a negative net margin of 28.25%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 100.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.45) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on IONS shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $43.00 target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $58.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $67.88.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 19,658 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.81, for a total value of $1,195,402.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 51,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,132,140.67. The trade was a 27.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 20,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.91, for a total value of $1,018,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 66,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,377,573.04. This trade represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 464,141 shares of company stock worth $26,772,779. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.