International Assets Investment Management LLC Buys 319,065 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 3,287.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 328,772 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 319,065 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC owned about 0.23% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $13,171,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 70.6% during the first 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 buying an additional 9,965 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $630,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth $765,000. Blair William & Co. IL raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 67.4% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 27,838 shares of the company's stock worth $1,207,000 after purchasing an additional 11,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth about $613,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on IONS shares. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. 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 report on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com cut Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $60.28.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS traded down $0.87 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $38.39. 910,035 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,322,721. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.67, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a current ratio of 7.61. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $35.95 and a one year high of $54.44. The company has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.23 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.96 and a 200 day moving average of $43.04.

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 the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.47. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.90% and a negative return on equity of 115.66%. The business had revenue of $225.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $152.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the business'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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 85,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,104,384. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 2,803 shares of company stock worth $134,402 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company's stock.

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.