D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Has $808,000 Stock Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 84.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,123 shares of the company's stock after selling 121,968 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company's stock valued at $575,880,000 after purchasing an additional 1,416,781 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company's stock worth $400,831,000 after buying an additional 3,637,041 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,687,248 shares of the company's stock valued at $93,976,000 after buying an additional 18,890 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $59,948,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,481,440 shares of the company's stock worth $51,791,000 after acquiring an additional 38,420 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on IONS. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, March 31st. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup decreased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $56.67.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Michael R. Hayden acquired 15,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $31.86 per share, for a total transaction of $477,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 50,219 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,599,977.34. The trade was a 42.59% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS traded up $1.03 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $33.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,017,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,565,149. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a current ratio of 8.47. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $30.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.01 and a beta of 0.15. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.95 and a fifty-two week high of $52.34.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.93) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.07) by $0.14. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The firm had revenue of $132.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.98) EPS. The company's revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company 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.