Strs Ohio Purchases New Shares in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 24,779 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,253,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 92.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,760,625 shares of the company's stock worth $79,862,000 after buying an additional 845,902 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,242,307 shares of the company's stock worth $56,351,000 after purchasing an additional 43,087 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,399,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 898,852 shares of the company's stock worth $40,772,000 after purchasing an additional 113,644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 690,724 shares of the company's stock worth $31,331,000 after purchasing an additional 19,646 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IONS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $56.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total transaction of $166,649.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares in the company, valued at $816,649.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 23,501 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.37, for a total transaction of $1,160,244.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,597,193.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $816,649.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 51,434 shares of company stock valued at $2,556,127. 2.65% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ IONS traded up $0.77 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $41.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 627,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,141,699. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.30. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.32 and a 52 week high of $54.44. The stock has a market cap of $6.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.34 and a beta of 0.39.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by $0.72. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 46.32% and a negative return on equity of 90.29%. The firm had revenue of $325.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.01 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.37) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 113.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -4 earnings per share 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.