Venturi Wealth Management LLC Invests $107,000 in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $107,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in IONS. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth approximately $266,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 63,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,210,000 after acquiring an additional 11,431 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 61,619 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 2,613 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IONS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ionis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $1,091,310.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 207,396 shares in the company, valued at $6,767,331.48. The trade was a 13.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 6,165 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total value of $194,937.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,452 shares in the company, valued at $1,816,632.24. This trade represents a 9.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,609 shares of company stock worth $3,564,867 over the last three months. 2.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of IONS stock opened at $32.33 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.63 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 8.47, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.24. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.23 and a twelve month high of $52.34.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.12) by $0.46. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 100.05% and a negative net margin of 64.25%. The business had revenue of $227.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.