Bayforest Capital Ltd Boosts Holdings in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd significantly increased its stake in Illumina, Inc. by 664.5%, purchasing an additional 2,658 shares to own a total of 3,058 shares worth $243,000.
• Multiple institutional investors also raised their stakes, with Rakuten Securities Inc. increasing holdings by 290.3% in the first quarter.
• Illumina's stock has faced mixed analyst ratings, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and varied price targets ranging from $80.00 to $128.00.

Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its position in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN - Free Report) by 664.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,058 shares of the life sciences company's stock after buying an additional 2,658 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd's holdings in Illumina were worth $243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ILMN. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Illumina by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 82,867 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $11,073,000 after buying an additional 16,339 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in Illumina during the fourth quarter valued at $9,023,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Illumina by 84.2% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 6,374 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,913 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Illumina by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,121 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 291 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its stake in shares of Illumina by 279.4% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,954 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,439 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.42% of the company's stock.

Illumina Stock Performance

Shares of ILMN stock traded up $3.78 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $98.44. The stock had a trading volume of 2,360,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,418,604. The firm has a market cap of $15.58 billion, a PE ratio of 12.46, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.37. Illumina, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.70 and a fifty-two week high of $156.66. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $93.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.41.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The life sciences company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.17. Illumina had a net margin of 29.36% and a return on equity of 28.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Illumina, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ILMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Illumina from $120.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup cut Illumina from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $85.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Illumina in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Illumina from $118.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Illumina from $84.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $127.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ankur Dhingra bought 6,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $81.21 per share, with a total value of $495,381.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer owned 24,906 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,022,616.26. The trade was a 32.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

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.