KBC Group NV Grows Stock Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 233.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 30,213 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,161 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,269,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of IONS. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth about $44,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:IONS opened at $56.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.32 and a beta of 0.36. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.03 and a 1 year high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.10.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.91% and a negative return on equity of 58.65%. The firm had revenue of $246.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.93) earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 60,846 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.41, for a total value of $4,466,704.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,648,641.78. This represents a 73.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total value of $2,107,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 77,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,250,089.70. This represents a 25.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551. 1.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $113.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.90.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Profile

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.