Capstone Capital Management Ltd Acquires New Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Capstone Capital Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 21,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,610,000. Ionis Pharmaceuticals makes up approximately 1.6% of Capstone Capital Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Grandfield & Dodd LLC increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,992,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 48,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,176,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IONS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, June 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group started coverage on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, April 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Two investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.90.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.59, for a total transaction of $4,029,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 245,571 shares in the company, valued at $19,790,566.89. The trade was a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Spencer R. Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.49, for a total value of $587,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 156,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,465,395.37. This trade represents a 4.88% 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. Insiders sold 213,029 shares of company stock worth $16,500,601 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.2%

IONS opened at $84.46 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The firm has a market cap of $13.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -40.80 and a beta of 0.36. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.03 and a 52 week high of $86.74. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.51.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.93) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.