Van ECK Associates Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 83.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,396 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 28,891 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $5,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 41.2% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.5% during 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% during 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 in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total transaction of $2,107,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 77,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,250,089.70. This represents a 25.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.46, for a total value of $1,281,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 75,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,411,038.28. This represents a 16.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 225,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,711,191 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IONS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $106.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Leerink Partners upped their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.15.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.4%

IONS opened at $61.33 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 7.73, a current ratio of 7.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07. The stock has a market cap of $10.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.73 and a beta of 0.42. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $50.01 and a twelve month high of $86.74. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $62.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.80.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $267.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.10 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.76% and a negative return on equity of 111.08%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was down 40.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities 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.