Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group trimmed its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 18.3% in Q4, selling 21,021 shares and retaining 93,751 shares valued at about $7.42 million.
• Insiders have been net sellers: the EVP sold 5,812 shares and a director sold 5,000, and insiders sold a total of 868,132 shares worth $67.34 million last quarter, leaving insiders with 2.60% ownership.
• Analyst sentiment is mostly positive (consensus "Moderate Buy", average target $94.37), even as Ionis missed EPS estimates last quarter (‑$1.41 vs. ‑$1.23) while beating revenue ($203.33M vs. $156.07M).

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 93,751 shares of the company's stock after selling 21,021 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.06% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $7,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% in the 3rd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $27,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley set a $95.00 target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 5,812 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.97, for a total transaction of $412,477.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 63,890 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,273.30. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.27, for a total transaction of $381,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 51,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,916,006.88. The trade was a 8.87% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 868,132 shares of company stock worth $67,343,911 in the last quarter. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $75.71 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.92. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.90 and a 1-year high of $86.74. The firm has a market cap of $12.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.03 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by ($0.18). Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 40.36% and a negative return on equity of 68.82%. The firm had revenue of $203.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.66) earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company 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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