SG Americas Securities LLC Boosts Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Key Points

• SG Americas Securities LLC increased its Ionis Pharmaceuticals stake by 89.5% in Q1, bringing its holdings to 63,295 shares valued at about $4.75 million.
• Analysts remain generally bullish on Ionis: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $102.90, and several firms recently raised targets or reiterated positive ratings.
• Ionis reported better-than-expected Q1 results, with EPS of -$0.56 versus an expected -$0.85 and revenue of $246.09 million, up 86.4% year over year, even as insiders sold shares in recent months.

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 89.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,295 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 29,886 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $4,753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Grandfield & Dodd LLC grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,992,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,536 shares of the company's stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company's stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,674 shares of the company's stock valued at $765,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 48,545 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,176,000 after buying an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Leerink Partners increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, April 10th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $108.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $102.90.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Spencer R. Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.49, for a total value of $587,920.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 156,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,465,395.37. This trade represents a 4.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.41, for a total transaction of $4,466,704.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,648,641.78. The trade was a 73.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 190,153 shares of company stock worth $14,606,373. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company's stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS stock opened at $80.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.98 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.37 and a 52-week high of $86.74. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $75.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.34.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The firm had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.93) earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 EPS for the current year.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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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