Archer Investment Corp Has $29,000 Stock Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Archer Investment Corp reduced its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 29.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 250 shares during the period. Archer Investment Corp’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $29,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. First Turn Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,044,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings in 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 position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth $630,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 956,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,407,000 after purchasing an additional 58,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at about $765,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on IONS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Leerink Partners upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.68.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $47.65 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.96. 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.85 and a beta of 0.40.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 115.66% and a negative net margin of 44.90%. The company had revenue of $225.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,300. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, Director Joseph Klein III sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,300. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Richard S. Geary sold 2,430 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $116,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 85,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,104,384. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,750 shares of company stock worth $732,371 over the last 90 days. 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.