Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) Shares Acquired by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN - Free Report) by 344.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ILMN. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Illumina by 408.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,025,301 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $2,408,721,000 after purchasing an additional 14,481,232 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Illumina by 26.6% in the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 4,129,855 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $551,625,000 after purchasing an additional 867,673 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Illumina by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,402,057 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $454,617,000 after purchasing an additional 27,618 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Illumina by 54,220.9% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,912,639 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $255,586,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909,118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Illumina in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $228,714,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.42% of the company's stock.

Illumina Stock Up 0.5%

Illumina stock opened at $82.66 on Friday. 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. The stock has a market cap of $13.09 billion, a PE ratio of -10.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.35. The stock's fifty day moving average is $77.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.53.

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

Insider Transactions at Illumina

In other news, CFO Ankur Dhingra bought 6,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $81.21 per share, for a total transaction of $495,381.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ILMN has been the subject of several analyst reports. HSBC lowered Illumina from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim lowered their price target on Illumina from $122.00 to $114.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Hsbc Global Res cut Illumina from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Illumina in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Illumina from $100.00 to $77.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $128.84.

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.

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