Lisanti Capital Growth LLC Takes $3.16 Million Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Lisanti Capital Growth LLC purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 62,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,158,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 17,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $875,000 after purchasing an additional 1,394 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 80.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,406,000 after purchasing an additional 12,357 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 65,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, C WorldWide Group Holding A S acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $15,177,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $42.28. 928,265 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,115,770. The company has a market cap of $6.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.52 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 5.90, a quick ratio of 5.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.18. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.79 and a twelve month high of $54.44. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.96.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.78) by $0.72. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 46.32% and a negative return on equity of 90.29%. The company had revenue of $325.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.01 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.37) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 113.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Joseph Baroldi sold 4,006 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $166,649.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $816,649.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on IONS shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.67.

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.