Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires 434,659 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 660.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 500,451 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 434,659 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned 0.31% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $15,099,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 160.0% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 949 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 193.5% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 951 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 183.8% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,036 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1,722.5% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 3,244 shares of the company's stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 3,066 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Michael R. Hayden acquired 15,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $31.86 per share, for a total transaction of $477,900.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 50,219 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,599,977.34. The trade was a 42.59% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IONS stock traded down $0.61 on Friday, reaching $42.98. The company had a trading volume of 1,335,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,601,001. The business's 50-day moving average is $35.24 and its 200 day moving average is $33.14. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $23.95 and a one year high of $52.34. The company has a quick ratio of 9.62, a current ratio of 9.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.84 billion, a PE ratio of -14.37 and a beta of 0.23.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.93) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.07) by $0.14. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 63.65% and a negative return on equity of 91.85%. The business had revenue of $132.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.98) EPS. The firm's revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on IONS. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Tuesday. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.25.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company 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.