Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) Short Interest Down 9.7% in December

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,510,000 shares, a drop of 9.7% from the November 30th total of 7,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,080,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Illumina Price Performance

NASDAQ ILMN traded up $0.06 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $133.63. 765,506 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,032,600. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $142.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $131.02. Illumina has a fifty-two week low of $100.08 and a fifty-two week 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 $21.19 billion, a PE ratio of -13.42 and a beta of 1.11.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The life sciences company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. Illumina had a negative net margin of 36.10% and a positive return on equity of 7.29%. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. Research analysts expect that Illumina will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on ILMN shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Illumina from $252.00 to $254.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Stephens increased their target price on Illumina from $170.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Illumina from $166.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Illumina from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Leerink Partners boosted their target price on shares of Illumina from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Illumina presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $165.95.

Institutional Trading of Illumina

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Illumina by 58.5% during 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. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in Illumina by 65.1% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 426 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Illumina during the second quarter valued at about $61,000. Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of Illumina by 81.2% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 473 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Illumina in the 2nd quarter worth about $63,000. Institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

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.