Handelsbanken Fonder AB Trims Stock Position in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its stake in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) by 27.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,927 shares of the life sciences company’s stock after selling 18,587 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Illumina were worth $6,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Illumina in the third quarter valued at $30,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Illumina by 344.6% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 249 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Illumina in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in Illumina by 375.0% in the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 285 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its stake in Illumina by 183.0% in the fourth quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 300 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. 89.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on ILMN shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. OTR Global restated a “mixed” rating on shares of Illumina in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. HSBC lowered shares of Illumina from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $253.00 price objective on shares of Illumina in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Illumina in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.70.

Illumina Stock Performance

Shares of ILMN opened at $122.87 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $132.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.54. Illumina, Inc. has a 1 year low of $89.00 and a 1 year high of $228.13.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The life sciences company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Illumina had a negative net margin of 25.78% and a positive return on equity of 2.20%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Illumina, Inc. will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jacob Thaysen purchased 7,330 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $135.29 per share, for a total transaction of $991,675.70. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,861 shares in the company, valued at $2,010,544.69. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Illumina Company Profile

Illumina, Inc offers sequencing- and array-based solutions for genetic and genomic analysis in the United States, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through Core Illumina and GRAIL segments. The company offers sequencing and array-based instruments and consumables, which include reagents, flow cells, and library preparation; whole-genome sequencing kits, which sequence entire genomes of various size and complexity; and targeted resequencing kits, which sequence exomes, specific genes, and RNA or other genomic regions of interest.