Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Raises Stake in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 29,463 shares of the life sciences company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,196 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Illumina were worth $3,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Illumina by 1.7% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,960 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Illumina by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,884 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC increased its stake in Illumina by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 4,484 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $585,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in Illumina by 1.7% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,818 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carson Advisory Inc. boosted its position in Illumina by 3.8% during the third quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 2,757 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut Illumina from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $190.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price 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. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Illumina from $166.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Illumina from $156.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Leerink Partners upped their target price on Illumina from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.63.

Illumina Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ILMN opened at $136.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $21.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.72 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $139.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.16. Illumina, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.08 and a fifty-two week high of $156.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last issued its 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. Illumina had a positive return on equity of 7.29% and a negative net margin of 36.10%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Illumina, Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

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.