ProShare Advisors LLC Has $262,000 Position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 13.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,480 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,160 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of IONS. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 46.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,465,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,637,041 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $59,948,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,472,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $575,880,000 after buying an additional 1,416,781 shares during the last quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,494,000 after buying an additional 492,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 79.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 774,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,067,000 after buying an additional 343,492 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on IONS shares. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.67.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:IONS opened at $33.64 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.07 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 8.47 and a quick ratio of 8.82. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.88. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.95 and a 1 year high of $52.34.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.93) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.07) by $0.14. The company had revenue of $132.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.31 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 64.25% and a negative return on equity of 100.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.98) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael R. Hayden purchased 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $31.86 per share, for a total transaction of $477,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 50,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,599,977.34. This represents a 42.59% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.