Norges Bank Invests $25.33 Million in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Key Points

• Norges Bank opened a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, buying 320,160 shares worth about $25.33 million and holding 0.20% of the company.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on IONS, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $100.90, while several analysts have reiterated buy/outperform ratings.
• Ionis reported quarterly results that beat expectations, posting a smaller-than-expected loss of $0.56 per share on revenue of $246.09 million, with revenue up 86.4% year over year.

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 320,160 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,328,000. Norges Bank owned 0.20% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 608.4% in the 4th quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,091 shares of the company's stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the company's stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IONS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $111.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Leerink Partners raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, April 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $100.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $74.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $12.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.03 and a beta of 0.37. The stock's 50-day moving average is $74.98 and its 200-day moving average is $77.81. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $34.78 and a one year high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.09.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.57 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.Ionis Pharmaceuticals's quarterly revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.93) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 4,902 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.17, for a total transaction of $368,483.34. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,713 shares in the company, valued at $1,782,506.21. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Brian Birchler sold 973 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $73,013.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 67,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,065,200. This trade represents a 1.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 256,100 shares of company stock valued at $18,613,444. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company's stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company's proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis' pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.

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