Short Interest in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) Expands By 6.2%

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,470,000 shares, a growth of 6.2% from the August 15th total of 4,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,440,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ILMN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Illumina from $176.00 to $164.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays raised Illumina from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $125.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Illumina from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $242.00 target price on shares of Illumina in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Illumina from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $120.00 to $154.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.05.

Illumina Price Performance

ILMN stock traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $130.21. 1,502,977 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,040,644. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $124.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $120.54. Illumina has a 52-week low of $89.00 and a 52-week high of $148.19. The company has a market capitalization of $20.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.98 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The life sciences company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Illumina will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Illumina

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Illumina by 166.7% during the first quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 200 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Illumina by 292.9% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 330 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Illumina in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in shares of Illumina by 86.8% in the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 284 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Illumina in the fourth quarter worth $51,000. 89.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.