Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) Short Interest Up 6.2% in August

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) saw a significant increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,470,000 shares, an increase of 6.2% from the August 15th total of 4,210,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,440,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Illumina

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ILMN. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Illumina by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,807 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Illumina during the 4th quarter worth $51,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of Illumina by 35.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,370 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Illumina by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,096 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $988,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Illumina in the 4th quarter worth $226,000. 89.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Illumina Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ILMN traded up $0.69 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $130.21. 1,502,977 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,040,644. Illumina has a one year low of $89.00 and a one year high of $148.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $124.26 and a 200 day moving average of $120.54. The company has a market cap of $20.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.98 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The life sciences company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.24. Illumina had a negative net margin of 68.73% and a positive return on equity of 3.08%. The firm had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Illumina will post 3.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ILMN. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Illumina from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $120.00 to $154.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Daiwa America raised Illumina to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Illumina from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $242.00 price objective on shares of Illumina in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.05.

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.