KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Increases Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Key Points

• KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 15.0% in the second quarter, owning a total of 31,500 shares valued at approximately $1.245 million.
• Major institutional investors have also raised their stakes, including T. Rowe Price and Goldman Sachs, with 93.86% of Ionis' stock currently held by institutional investors.
• Brokerages have issued positive ratings and target price increases for Ionis, with Oppenheimer raising its target from $84 to $90, reflecting strong market confidence in the company's performance.

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,500 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,100 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS's holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,175,533 shares of the company's stock worth $488,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,006,334 shares during the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at approximately $57,727,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 291.1% in the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,075,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,451,000 after purchasing an additional 800,600 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 660.7% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 500,451 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,099,000 after purchasing an additional 434,659 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 72.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 652,518 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,686,000 after purchasing an additional 274,310 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on IONS. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $78.28.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 33,909 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $2,055,563.58. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 101,570 shares in the company, valued at $6,157,173.40. The trade was a 25.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 203,814 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.32, for a total transaction of $12,294,060.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 180,009 shares in the company, valued at $10,858,142.88. This represents a 53.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 753,986 shares of company stock worth $45,921,435 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.71% of the company's stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of IONS opened at $71.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.38 billion, a PE ratio of -38.79 and a beta of 0.33. The company's fifty day moving average is $56.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.95 and a fifty-two week high of $72.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 28.25% and a negative return on equity of 45.29%. The business had revenue of $452.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.45) EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 100.9% on a year-over-year basis. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

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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