Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Lifted to “Strong-Buy” at Daiwa America

Daiwa America upgraded shares of Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on ILMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Illumina from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays raised Illumina from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $125.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Illumina from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Illumina in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a hold rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stephens restated an overweight rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Illumina in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $151.10.

Illumina Price Performance

ILMN stock opened at $130.31 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $114.68 and a 200-day moving average of $122.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.99 and a beta of 1.15. Illumina has a 12 month low of $89.00 and a 12 month high of $172.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The life sciences company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Illumina had a negative net margin of 28.71% and a positive return on equity of 2.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Illumina will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Illumina

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Illumina by 2,232.3% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,377,221 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $463,760,000 after buying an additional 3,232,418 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its stake in Illumina by 462.5% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,428,760 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $253,514,000 after acquiring an additional 1,997,010 shares during the period. Capital World Investors bought a new stake in Illumina in the fourth quarter valued at $271,753,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Illumina during the 4th quarter valued at $264,636,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Illumina by 305.0% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,485,599 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $155,067,000 after purchasing an additional 1,118,747 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

About Illumina

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.