23,940 Shares in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Purchased by Castle Hook Partners LP

Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 23,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $959,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IONS. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 83.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 35.8% during the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 911 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.86% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of IONS opened at $35.90 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.44. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.33 and a twelve month high of $54.44. The company has a current ratio of 8.91, a quick ratio of 8.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.71 and a beta of 0.39.

Insider Transactions at Ionis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 6,630 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.05, for a total value of $252,271.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 167,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,369,303.65. This represents a 3.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Eric Swayze sold 1,194 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.92, for a total transaction of $45,276.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,713 shares in the company, valued at $1,278,396.96. The trade was a 3.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,877 shares of company stock worth $299,578 in the last three months. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com cut Ionis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.65.

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.