Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) Short Interest Down 22.6% in January

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,040,000 shares, a decline of 22.6% from the December 31st total of 6,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,000,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Illumina

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ILMN. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Illumina by 153.7% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 241 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Illumina in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Illumina by 58.5% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 382 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of Illumina by 50.6% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 393 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its position in shares of Illumina by 65.1% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 426 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. 89.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ILMN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Illumina from $252.00 to $254.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Illumina from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Illumina from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Illumina from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Illumina from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Illumina has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $165.63.

Illumina Stock Performance

Shares of ILMN opened at $132.74 on Friday. Illumina has a 12 month low of $100.08 and a 12 month high of $156.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $138.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.33 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.43, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The life sciences company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.26. Illumina had a negative net margin of 36.10% and a positive return on equity of 7.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Illumina will post 4.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.