Swiss National Bank Grows Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 279,200 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 22,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.18% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $9,761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Baker BROS. Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth approximately $8,952,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company's stock worth $106,922,000 after purchasing an additional 183,814 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $5,617,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 967.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 141,917 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,961,000 after buying an additional 128,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,443,020 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,807,000 after purchasing an additional 114,914 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the topic of several research reports. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $59.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS traded down $1.18 on Tuesday, hitting $32.27. 1,980,250 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,421,936. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.62 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 8.47, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.23 and a 1-year high of $52.34. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $32.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.98.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. The company had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $140.97 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The firm's revenue was down 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.12 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, CFO Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 8,870 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.81, for a total transaction of $291,024.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,885 shares in the company, valued at $3,539,706.85. The trade was a 7.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 7,154 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total transaction of $234,937.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,499,802.80. The trade was a 13.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,956 shares of company stock worth $3,608,439 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.71% of the company's stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals 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.