Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 36,822 Shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Key Points

• Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Illumina, Inc. by 36.3%, acquiring 36,822 shares to bring its total ownership to 138,208 shares, which represents about 1.6% of their investment portfolio.
• Illumina's shares opened at $107.64, with recent earnings showing a growth of 25.54% return on equity, despite a 1.4% decline in quarterly revenue compared to the same period last year.
• Analysts are divided on Illumina's stock, with ratings ranging from sell to strong buy, and an average price target set at $125.11.

Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN - Free Report) by 36.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 138,208 shares of the life sciences company's stock after acquiring an additional 36,822 shares during the period. Illumina accounts for about 1.6% of Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Illumina worth $10,965,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new stake in Illumina during the first quarter worth $355,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in shares of Illumina by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 18,527 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $1,469,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Illumina by 344.8% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 13,036 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 10,105 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its position in shares of Illumina by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 142,977 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $19,106,000 after acquiring an additional 20,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Illumina by 15.1% in the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 516,293 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $40,963,000 after acquiring an additional 67,676 shares during the period. 89.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Illumina Stock Performance

Shares of Illumina stock opened at $107.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.30. Illumina, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.70 and a fifty-two week high of $156.66. The firm has a market cap of $17.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.36.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The life sciences company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. Illumina had a positive return on equity of 25.54% and a negative net margin of 22.25%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Illumina, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ILMN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Illumina from $87.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Illumina from $116.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Illumina from $136.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $85.00 price objective (up from $77.00) on shares of Illumina in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of Illumina from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $125.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $125.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ankur Dhingra acquired 6,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $81.21 per share, for a total transaction of $495,381.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer owned 24,906 shares in the company, valued at $2,022,616.26. This trade represents a 32.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Illumina 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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