Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 1,314,752 Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 19,941.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,321,345 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,314,752 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $104,532,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. Institutional investors own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $73.32 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $12.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.42 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.78 and a 1-year high of $86.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $75.00 and its 200 day moving average is $77.82.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.57 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.93) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 5,812 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.97, for a total transaction of $412,477.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 63,890 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,273.30. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Spencer R. Berthelsen sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.67, for a total value of $605,360.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 156,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,805,503.71. The trade was a 4.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 a total of 256,100 shares of company stock worth $18,613,444 in the last quarter. 1.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on IONS. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Bank of America raised their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.90.

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.