Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Shares Sold by Liontrust Investment Partners LLP

Key Points

• Liontrust Investment Partners LLP reduced its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 27% during the first quarter, leaving them with approximately $917,000 worth of shares.
• Director B Lynne Parshall and EVP Richard S. Geary sold a combined total of 15,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock, reflecting a decrease in their ownership of the company.
• Ionis Pharmaceuticals recently reported earnings of $0.70 EPS, significantly exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.19, with a revenue of $452 million, a 100.9% year-over-year increase.

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP lowered its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 27.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,390 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,231 shares during the quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP's holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% in the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 129,273 shares of the company's stock worth $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 3,884 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in 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 worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth $243,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2,280.5% in the first quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 41,754 shares of the company's stock worth $1,299,000 after purchasing an additional 40,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Privium Fund Management B.V. increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% in the first quarter. Privium Fund Management B.V. now owns 267,594 shares of the company's stock worth $8,073,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on IONS. Barclays raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $51.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $65.00 price objective (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $59.38.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.5%

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.6240 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $43.1040. 1,290,762 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,759,049. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.90. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.95 and a 12-month high of $50.43. The firm has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a PE ratio of -23.43 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 business's quarterly revenue 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. Research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.86, for a total value of $428,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 89,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,835,627.12. The trade was a 10.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.93, for a total value of $209,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 86,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,620,403.92. This represents a 5.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,141 shares of company stock worth $1,204,806 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company's stock.

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.