T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 30.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,108,019 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,048,910 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 5.62% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals worth $720,536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth $38,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Brian Birchler sold 973 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $73,013.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 67,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,065,200. This represents a 1.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Spencer R. Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.49, for a total transaction of $587,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 156,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,465,395.37. The trade was a 4.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 93,914 shares of company stock valued at $6,941,424 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $74.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.09. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.45 and a 1-year high of $86.74. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.25 billion, a PE ratio of -35.81 and a beta of 0.37.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.93) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on IONS. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, April 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.80.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.