Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Lifted to “Buy” at Daiwa Capital Markets

Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Daiwa Capital Markets currently has $154.00 price target on the life sciences company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $120.00.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on ILMN. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Illumina in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They set a hold rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Illumina from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upgraded shares of Illumina from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $125.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Illumina in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Finally, Stephens restated an overweight rating and set a $170.00 target price on shares of Illumina in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $151.10.

Illumina Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ ILMN opened at $130.31 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $114.68 and its 200-day moving average is $122.24. Illumina has a 1 year low of $89.00 and a 1 year high of $172.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.76 billion, a PE ratio of -15.99 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The life sciences company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.24. Illumina had a negative net margin of 28.71% and a positive return on equity of 2.31%. The business had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. Illumina’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Illumina will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Illumina

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Illumina by 1.3% in the first quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC now owns 6,547 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $899,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Illumina by 7.0% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,341 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $140,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. STF Management LP grew its stake in shares of Illumina by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. STF Management LP now owns 2,644 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $368,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Illumina by 12.3% in the first quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 856 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gulf International Bank UK Ltd grew its stake in shares of Illumina by 0.7% in the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 13,562 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.