Privium Fund Management B.V. Has $9.33 Million Stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS)

Privium Fund Management B.V. grew its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 266,794 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,050 shares during the period. Ionis Pharmaceuticals accounts for 2.1% of Privium Fund Management B.V.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Privium Fund Management B.V.’s holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals were worth $9,327,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. Baker BROS. Advisors LP acquired a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $8,952,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,668,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,922,000 after purchasing an additional 183,814 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $5,617,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 967.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 141,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,961,000 after acquiring an additional 128,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,443,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,807,000 after purchasing an additional 114,914 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 33,445 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $1,091,310.35. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Patrick R. O’neil sold 1,207 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.35, for a total transaction of $39,046.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,819,525.75. This represents a 2.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,956 shares of company stock valued at $3,608,439 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on IONS shares. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $51.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.56.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 3.9 %

IONS stock opened at $32.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.84 and a beta of 0.28. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.23 and a twelve month high of $52.34. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $32.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.49. The company has a quick ratio of 8.82, a current ratio of 8.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12.

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

Ionis Pharmaceuticals 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.