Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Raises Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS – Get Rating) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 230,577 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,516 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.16% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $8,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.1% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 13,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $495,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Delphia USA Inc. boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% in the third quarter. Delphia USA Inc. now owns 9,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 7,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 15,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $598,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. 87.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on IONS shares. SVB Leerink lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $34.00 to $27.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. SVB Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $34.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.64.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 5.1 %

IONS opened at $39.17 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.69 and a fifty-two week high of $48.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 9.72 and a current ratio of 9.81. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.96 and a beta of 0.54.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported ($0.87) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.00) by $0.13. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 56.85% and a negative return on equity of 57.58%. The company had revenue of $131.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $126.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.46) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,527 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.70, for a total value of $63,675.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 40,355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,682,803.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 4,931 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total transaction of $197,930.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 140,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,634,612.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,527 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.70, for a total transaction of $63,675.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,682,803.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 7,130 shares of company stock valued at $286,134. Corporate insiders own 2.36% of the company’s stock.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc engages in the development and commercialization of human therapeutic drugs using antisense technology. It operates through the Ionis Core segment. The Ionis Core segment exploits a novel drug discovery platform to generate a pipeline of drugs. The company was founded by Stanley T.