Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 114,914 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,443,020 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 114,914 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.91% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $57,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 83.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 35.8% during the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.92, for a total transaction of $45,276.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,278,396.96. This trade represents a 3.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 6,630 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.05, for a total transaction of $252,271.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,369,303.65. The trade was a 3.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,877 shares of company stock valued at $299,578. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $35.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a PE ratio of -14.64 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $38.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.35. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.33 and a 1 year high of $54.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 8.91 and a quick ratio of 8.82.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Guggenheim decreased 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.65.

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.