Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) Short Interest Update

by · The Cerbat Gem

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN – Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,880,000 shares, an increase of 9.2% from the August 31st total of 4,470,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,820,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Illumina Price Performance

Shares of Illumina stock traded down $1.61 on Tuesday, hitting $128.80. 959,340 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,015,084. Illumina has a 12-month low of $89.00 and a 12-month high of $148.19. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.28. The company has a market cap of $20.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.44 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The life sciences company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.24. Illumina had a negative net margin of 68.73% and a positive return on equity of 3.08%. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Illumina will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ILMN. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Illumina from $176.00 to $164.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Illumina from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $154.00 in a research note on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Illumina in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Argus raised shares of Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Illumina from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $152.05.

Read Our Latest Report on ILMN

Institutional Trading of Illumina

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Illumina by 403.0% in the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 14,626 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 11,718 shares in the last quarter. Bluefin Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Illumina during the second quarter valued at approximately $313,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Illumina during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,331,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its holdings in Illumina by 248.3% in the 2nd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 45,132 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $4,710,000 after acquiring an additional 32,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Illumina by 25.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,384 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $1,919,000 after acquiring an additional 3,767 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

About Illumina

(Get Free Report)

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.

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