Legal & General Group Plc Makes New $23.72 Million Investment in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 299,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,722,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 72.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 652,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,686,000 after buying an additional 274,310 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.4% in 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 valued at $19,895,000 after acquiring an additional 39,794 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 30.1% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 9,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 2,277 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $220,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 47.8% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 9,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,991 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HC Wainwright reduced their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 13th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Holly B. Kordasiewicz sold 362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.30, for a total value of $30,516.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,862,692.80. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Allene M. Diaz sold 10,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.42, for a total transaction of $863,681.62. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $325,535.62. The trade was a 72.63% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of IONS stock opened at $61.05 on Friday. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $42.13 and a 1-year high of $86.74. 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 market capitalization of $10.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.64 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.38.

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, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.08) by $0.39. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 111.08% and a negative net margin of 64.76%.The firm had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 earnings per share 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.