Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Sells 2,696,240 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. significantly reduced its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 99.2%, selling 2,696,240 shares, leaving them with only 22,841 shares valued at $689,000.
• Several analysts have upgraded their ratings on Ionis Pharmaceuticals, with Barclays and Morgan Stanley both moving to an "overweight" rating and raising price targets to $57.00 and $62.00, respectively.
• Despite a negative return on equity of 45.29%, Ionis Pharmaceuticals reported a 100.9% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, reaching $452 million.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 99.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,841 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,696,240 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $689,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,301 shares of the company's stock worth $465,000 after acquiring an additional 3,146 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,687,248 shares of the company's stock worth $93,976,000 after acquiring an additional 18,890 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 193.5% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 951 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 205,514 shares of the company's stock worth $7,185,000 after acquiring an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $3,692,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of IONS traded up $0.59 on Friday, reaching $41.64. 1,739,246 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,003,101. 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 has a market capitalization of $6.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.63 and a beta of 0.25. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $39.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.95 and a 12 month high of $50.43.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on IONS. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $62.00 in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $59.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.86, for a total transaction of $428,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 89,492 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,835,627.12. This represents a 10.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,620,403.92. This trade represents a 5.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,141 shares of company stock worth $1,204,806 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

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.