Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Position in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 101,386 shares of the life sciences company’s stock after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Illumina comprises approximately 2.0% of Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.06% of Illumina worth $13,548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ILMN. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Illumina by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,960 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 61,749 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $8,052,000 after buying an additional 1,451 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 472,900 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $61,671,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,884 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 28,808 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $3,757,000 after buying an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ILMN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Illumina from $127.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Illumina from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $156.00 target price on shares of Illumina in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. TD Cowen downgraded Illumina from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $177.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Illumina from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.90.

Illumina Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of ILMN opened at $84.96 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.46 billion, a PE ratio of -11.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Illumina, Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.18 and a 52-week high of $156.66. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $128.89.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The life sciences company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.06). Illumina had a positive return on equity of 13.37% and a negative net margin of 27.95%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Illumina, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Illumina 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.