DCF Advisers LLC Purchases New Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

DCF Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 37,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,973,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in IONS. Grandfield & Dodd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,992,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 4,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $765,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 48,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,176,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total value of $4,029,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 245,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,790,566.89. This represents a 16.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Michael R. Hayden purchased 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $53.38 per share, with a total value of $800,700.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 19,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,014,220. The trade was a 375.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551 over the last ninety days. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.0%

NASDAQ IONS opened at $60.80 on Thursday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.71 and a 52 week high of $86.74. The company has a quick ratio of 7.73, a current ratio of 7.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.41. The firm has a market cap of $10.10 billion, a PE ratio of -17.57 and a beta of 0.41.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.08) by $0.39. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.76% and a negative return on equity of 111.08%. The firm had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was down 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on IONS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 13th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, June 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “peer perform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.15.

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.