Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 10,105 Shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN - Free Report) by 344.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,036 shares of the life sciences company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,105 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Illumina were worth $1,034,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ILMN. Spire Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Illumina by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 470 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in shares of Illumina by 432.5% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 820 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in shares of Illumina by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 6,534 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $873,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Illumina during the 4th quarter worth approximately $751,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Illumina during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,464,000. 89.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Ankur Dhingra acquired 6,100 shares of Illumina stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $81.21 per share, with a total value of $495,381.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 24,906 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,022,616.26. This trade represents a 32.44% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Illumina Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ ILMN traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $87.54. 2,243,531 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,282,551. The stock has a market cap of $13.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.40, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.69. Illumina, Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.70 and a 1-year high of $156.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The life sciences company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. Illumina had a negative net margin of 27.95% and a positive return on equity of 13.37%. The business's revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Illumina, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ILMN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Illumina in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. HSBC lowered shares of Illumina from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $100.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Illumina from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Illumina from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Illumina from $120.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Illumina has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $129.47.

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.