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

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Illumina

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Zacks Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Illumina during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,924,000. Freemont Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Illumina during the third quarter worth approximately $1,565,000. Weybosset Research & Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Illumina by 92.0% during the third quarter. Weybosset Research & Management LLC now owns 18,052 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $2,354,000 after acquiring an additional 8,650 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Illumina by 176.3% during the second quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 7,176 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $749,000 after acquiring an additional 4,579 shares during the period. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Illumina by 65.5% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 32,806 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $4,278,000 after purchasing an additional 12,986 shares during the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Illumina Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ILMN traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $133.63. The stock had a trading volume of 765,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,032,600. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $142.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $131.04. The stock has a market cap of $21.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.42 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.43. Illumina has a twelve month low of $100.08 and a twelve month high of $156.66.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The life sciences company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.08 billion. Illumina had a positive return on equity of 7.29% and a negative net margin of 36.10%. The business's revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Illumina will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ILMN. Barclays increased their price objective 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. Citigroup cut Illumina from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $165.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Illumina from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "neutral" 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 stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Illumina from $252.00 to $254.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Illumina currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $165.95.

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.