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

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

Illumina Trading Down 0.2 %

ILMN opened at $132.74 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $138.82 and its 200-day moving average is $135.15. Illumina has a 1-year low of $100.08 and a 1-year high of $156.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.43, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $21.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.33 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Illumina from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Illumina from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. HSBC raised shares of Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Illumina from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Illumina presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.63.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ILMN. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Illumina by 26.6% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 4,129,855 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $551,625,000 after buying an additional 867,673 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Illumina by 148.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,056,172 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $137,735,000 after buying an additional 631,294 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Illumina by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,168,057 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $282,735,000 after buying an additional 625,245 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Illumina by 116.9% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 865,546 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $115,663,000 after buying an additional 466,519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iron Triangle Partners LP bought a new position in Illumina in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $57,380,000. 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.