T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Acquires 2,006,334 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Key Points

• T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the first quarter, owning approximately 10.16% of the company, valued at around $488 million.
• Wall Street analysts have a generally positive outlook on Ionis Pharmaceuticals, with multiple firms upgrading their ratings and price targets, resulting in an average target price of $59.38 and an overall rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Ionis Pharmaceuticals reported earnings of $0.70 per share for the last quarter, significantly exceeding analysts' estimates and reflecting a year-over-year revenue growth of 100.9%.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 14.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,175,533 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,006,334 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 10.16% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $488,016,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Capital Fund Management S.A. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,750,000. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 5.1% during the first quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,069,211 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,258,000 after buying an additional 52,020 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 40.8% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 148,690 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,486,000 after buying an additional 43,071 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,523,000. Finally, Sector Gamma AS lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the first quarter. Sector Gamma AS now owns 285,842 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,624,000 after buying an additional 50,000 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.3%

IONS stock traded down $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $42.69. 1,859,935 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,166,917. The company has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.20 and a beta of 0.25. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.95 and a 52-week high of $50.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock's fifty day moving average is $41.38 and its 200-day moving average is $35.11.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $452.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 100.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.45) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on IONS shares. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.93, for a total transaction of $209,650.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 86,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,620,403.92. This represents a 5.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 2,432 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $109,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 179,820 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,091,900. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,141 shares of company stock worth $1,644,606 over the last ninety days. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.