Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Purchases 800,600 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Key Points

• Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 291.1%, owning 1,075,600 shares valued at approximately $32.4 million.
• Insider selling activity revealed that key executives sold a total of 464,141 shares valued at about $26.8 million in the last ninety days.
• Ionis Pharmaceuticals' stock is currently trading at $59.35, with a market capitalization of $9.46 billion and a significant year-over-year revenue growth of 100.9%.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 291.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,075,600 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 800,600 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 0.68% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $32,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 18.7% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 45.6% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.8% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,989 shares of the company's stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.5% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,135 shares of the company's stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,641 shares of the company's stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on IONS shares. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $58.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $67.88.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $1.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $63.34. 393,188 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,932,508. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.95 and a 12-month high of $64.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.36 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.86.

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

Insider Activity

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Shannon L. Devers sold 3,162 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.02, for a total value of $192,945.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,009 shares in the company, valued at $915,849.18. The trade was a 17.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.60, for a total value of $357,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 82,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,927,668.40. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 470,141 shares of company stock worth $27,130,379. 2.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.