Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Boosts Stake in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN - Free Report) by 86.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,349 shares of the life sciences company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,650 shares during the period. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Illumina were worth $1,917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ILMN. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Illumina by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,727,827 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $354,933,000 after purchasing an additional 48,018 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in shares of Illumina by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,516,359 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $328,158,000 after buying an additional 87,599 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Illumina by 40.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,168,057 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $282,735,000 after acquiring an additional 625,245 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Illumina by 305.0% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,485,599 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $155,067,000 after acquiring an additional 1,118,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Illumina by 4.5% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,260,137 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $164,334,000 after acquiring an additional 54,319 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.42% of the company's stock.

Illumina Price Performance

Shares of ILMN traded up $1.18 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $137.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,291,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,731,654. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $140.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $133.13. Illumina, Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.08 and a 1-year high of $156.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.79 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.43, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The life sciences company reported $1.14 EPS 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 company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. Illumina's quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Illumina, Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ILMN. Stephens lifted their target price on Illumina from $170.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. HSBC upgraded Illumina from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Illumina from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen upped 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. Finally, Leerink Partners raised their price objective on shares of Illumina from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $165.63.

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.