Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 13,765 Shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Bank of Nova Scotia lessened its holdings in shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN - Free Report) by 82.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,024 shares of the life sciences company's stock after selling 13,765 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Illumina were worth $404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Illumina by 153.7% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 241 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Illumina in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Illumina by 954.8% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 327 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new stake in Illumina during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in Illumina during the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. 89.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Illumina Price Performance

Illumina stock traded down $2.32 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $71.21. 2,639,652 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,271,527. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.77. Illumina, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.70 and a 52 week high of $156.66. The firm has a market cap of $11.27 billion, a PE ratio of -9.27, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.38. The company's fifty day moving average is $84.61 and its 200-day moving average is $120.40.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN - Get Free Report) last announced its 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Illumina, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ILMN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Illumina from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Illumina from $127.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $156.00 target price on shares of Illumina in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on Illumina from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered Illumina from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $177.00 to $140.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $138.70.

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.