Polymer Capital Management HK LTD Makes New $14.11 Million Investment in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Polymer Capital Management HK LTD bought a new stake in shares of 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 bought 177,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,105,000. Ionis Pharmaceuticals accounts for 0.7% of Polymer Capital Management HK LTD’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,961,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,420,918,000 after acquiring an additional 5,238,571 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,148,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,158,000 after purchasing an additional 82,560 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,987,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,370,000 after purchasing an additional 258,155 shares during the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 216.1% in the fourth quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 1,791,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,753,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,541,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,975,000 after purchasing an additional 21,890 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Michael R. Hayden acquired 15,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 19,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,014,220. This represents a 375.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 245,571 shares in the company, valued at $19,790,566.89. This trade represents a 16.92% 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. Insiders sold 233,163 shares of company stock valued at $18,316,551 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IONS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $113.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of IONS stock opened at $59.74 on Monday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $41.71 and a 12 month high of $86.74. The stock has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.27 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 7.89, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.08.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.08) by $0.39. The business had revenue of $267.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.10 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.76% and a negative return on equity of 111.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company 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.