50,956 Shares in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Acquired by DRW Securities LLC

DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 50,956 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,429,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 24,083 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,044,000 after purchasing an additional 9,965 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth about $630,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 956,852 shares of the company's stock worth $48,407,000 after purchasing an additional 58,000 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $765,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 260,702 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,189,000 after buying an additional 31,025 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on IONS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $67.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.68.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

IONS traded up $0.02 during trading on Friday, reaching $42.76. 2,566,874 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,305,363. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $47.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.01 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67, a current ratio of 7.61 and a quick ratio of 7.51. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.95 and a 1 year high of $54.44.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.47. The company had revenue of $225.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.35 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.90% and a negative return on equity of 115.66%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $116,640.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at $4,104,384. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $116,640.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,104,384. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,346 shares of the company's stock, valued at $817,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,750 shares of company stock valued at $732,371 over the last ninety days. Company 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.