TimesSquare Capital Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

TimesSquare Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 614,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,690,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of IONS. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Eugene Schneider sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total transaction of $2,107,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,114 shares in the company, valued at $6,250,089.70. This represents a 25.21% decrease in their position. 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 C Frank Bennett sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.46, for a total transaction of $1,281,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 75,018 shares in the company, valued at $6,411,038.28. This represents a 16.66% 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 have sold a total of 233,163 shares of company stock worth $18,316,551 over the last quarter. 1.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $58.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.95 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.73. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.71 and a 52 week high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 7.73 and a current ratio of 7.89.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.08) by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $267.95 million for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Leerink Partners raised their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $122.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $113.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $115.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.65.

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.