Is Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc (IONS) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

As one would reasonably expect, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Millennium Management established the largest position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:IONS). Arrowstreet Capital‘s aforementioned $25.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter was also a new position. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Partner Fund Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:IONS) but similarly valued. We will take a look at LATAM Airlines Group SA (ADR) (NYSE:LFL), Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:ENH), Eaton Vance Corp (NYSE:EV), and CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNX). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to IONS’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 18 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $534 million. That figure was $202 million in IONS’s case. CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand LATAM Airlines Group SA (ADR) (NYSE:LFL) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:IONS) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard CNX might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None