Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys New Shares in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 184,401 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,329,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.13% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.1% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,429 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 29.6% during the 2nd quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 1,736 shares of the company's stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 23,501 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.37, for a total value of $1,160,244.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,597,193.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 2,125 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.54, for a total value of $105,272.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 92,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,602,513.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 23,501 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.37, for a total value of $1,160,244.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,597,193.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 101,734 shares of company stock valued at $5,152,226. 2.65% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $52.00 to $62.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $55.67.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS traded down $1.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $43.35. 1,998,960 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,034,518. The company has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a PE ratio of -16.93 and a beta of 0.40. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.32 and a twelve month high of $54.44. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18, a current ratio of 5.90 and a quick ratio of 5.83.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $325.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.01 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 90.29% and a negative net margin of 46.32%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 113.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.37) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.