Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys 159,026 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 590.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 185,967 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 159,026 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $13,967,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 72.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 652,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,686,000 after buying an additional 274,310 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 659,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,895,000 after acquiring an additional 39,794 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 30.1% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 9,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 2,277 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $220,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 47.8% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 9,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,000 after acquiring an additional 2,991 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “peer perform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Leerink Partners increased their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $19,790,566.89. The trade was a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 10,602 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.18, for a total value of $839,466.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 21,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,722,877.62. This trade represents a 32.76% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ IONS opened at $54.01 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.82. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.03 and a 12-month high of $86.74. The firm has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.09 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $246.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $195.56 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.93) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 EPS for the current year.

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.