Legato Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Legato Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 64.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,155 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,145 shares during the quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $487,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of IONS. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 198.4% in the 3rd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 608.4% in the 4th quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of IONS opened at $76.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.75 and a beta of 0.38. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.00 and a 1 year high of $86.74. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.64. 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 (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. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The business had revenue of $246.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.93) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director B Lynne Parshall sold 5,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.27, for a total transaction of $381,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 51,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,916,006.88. The trade was a 8.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Kyle Jenne sold 4,902 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.17, for a total value of $368,483.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,782,506.21. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 616,371 shares of company stock valued at $46,406,452 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on IONS. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen cut their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Leerink Partners boosted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.90.

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.