Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS Shares Sold by Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.

Key Points

• Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. significantly reduced its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.8%, selling 164,745 shares and maintaining ownership of 187,395 shares, valued at approximately $5.65 million.
• Despite the reduction in Tocqueville's holdings, several other institutional investors have increased their positions in Ionis, with Signaturefd LLC growing its stake by 45.6% during the same quarter.
• Analysts have varied price targets for Ionis Pharmaceuticals, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $59.38.

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lowered its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 46.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 187,395 shares of the company's stock after selling 164,745 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. owned approximately 0.12% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $5,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth approximately $3,523,000. Sector Gamma AS raised its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Sector Gamma AS now owns 285,842 shares of the company's stock worth $8,624,000 after acquiring an additional 50,000 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 11.1% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 446,197 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,500,000 after purchasing an additional 44,696 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% in the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 129,273 shares of the company's stock worth $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 3,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,135 shares of the company's stock valued at $185,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.86, for a total transaction of $428,600.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 89,492 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,835,627.12. This represents a 10.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.93, for a total value of $209,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 86,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,620,403.92. This represents a 5.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,141 shares of company stock worth $1,204,806 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on IONS. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $51.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $65.00 target price (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $59.38.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.8%

IONS traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $42.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,283,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,765,477. The stock has a market cap of $6.82 billion, a PE ratio of -23.27 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.86. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.95 and a fifty-two week high of $50.43. The business's 50-day moving average is $40.95 and its 200-day moving average is $34.90.

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

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.