Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Shares Acquired by California Public Employees Retirement System

Key Points

• California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 19.7% in the first quarter, buying 42,117 additional shares and bringing its total to 255,485 shares valued at about $19.2 million.
• Insiders sold shares during the quarter, including EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz and EVP Eugene Schneider; overall, insiders sold 233,163 shares worth $18.3 million over the last quarter.
• Ionis reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of -$0.56 versus an expected -$0.85 and revenue of $246.1 million, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average target price of $95.90.

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 19.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 255,485 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 42,117 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.15% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $19,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Grandfield & Dodd LLC grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company's stock worth $2,992,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the company's stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company's stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,674 shares of the company's stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 48,545 shares of the company's stock worth $3,176,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 362 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.30, for a total transaction of $30,516.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,096 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,862,692.80. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 in the company, valued at $6,250,089.70. This represents a 25.21% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IONS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $111.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $105.00 to $86.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $95.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $55.87 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The business's 50-day moving average price is $71.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.65. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.03 and a 52-week high of $86.74. The firm has a market cap of $9.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.99 and a beta of 0.36.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals's revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.93) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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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