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 stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 99.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,841 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,696,240 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $689,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3,786.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 28,993 shares of the company's stock valued at $961,000 after purchasing an additional 28,247 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 458 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,692,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,450 shares of the company's stock valued at $330,000 after acquiring an additional 1,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 18.7% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $57.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $55.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. HC Wainwright reissued 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $59.38.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $43.05 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $6.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.40 and a beta of 0.25. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.95 and a 12 month high of $50.43. The business's 50-day moving average is $39.48 and its 200 day moving average is $34.29.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.51. The business 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 100.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.45) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 2,432 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $109,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 179,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,091,900. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 9,549 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.80, for a total value of $408,697.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 51,507 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,204,499.60. This trade represents a 15.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,141 shares of company stock worth $566,556. 2.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals 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.

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