Trexquant Investment LP Lowers Stock Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Trexquant Investment LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Free Report) by 35.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 84,913 shares of the company's stock after selling 45,945 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP owned approximately 0.05% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $2,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company's stock valued at $106,922,000 after purchasing an additional 183,814 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 222.5% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 23,927 shares of the company's stock valued at $836,000 after buying an additional 16,508 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 916,060 shares of the company's stock worth $367,000 after buying an additional 36,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth about $673,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 7,154 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.84, for a total value of $234,937.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,670 shares in the company, valued at $1,499,802.80. The trade was a 13.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Elizabeth L. Hougen sold 8,870 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.81, for a total transaction of $291,024.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,885 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,539,706.85. This represents a 7.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,956 shares of company stock worth $3,608,439 in the last three months. 2.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on IONS shares. StockNews.com upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $56.72.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

IONS traded up $1.19 on Friday, reaching $27.90. 2,010,951 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,506,022. The stock has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a PE ratio of -9.18 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 8.47 and a quick ratio of 8.82. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.95 and a twelve month high of $52.34. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $31.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.61.

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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company 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.