Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) by 68.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 59,204 shares of the life sciences company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,043 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Illumina were worth $8,244,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Illumina during the fourth quarter worth about $113,000. Slow Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 36,027 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $5,016,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,745 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $521,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 81,267 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $11,316,000 after purchasing an additional 19,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 3,068 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ILMN shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Illumina in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $253.00 price objective on shares of Illumina in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. HSBC lowered shares of Illumina from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Illumina from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.70.

Insider Activity at Illumina

In other Illumina news, CEO Jacob Thaysen bought 7,330 shares of Illumina stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $135.29 per share, for a total transaction of $991,675.70. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 14,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,010,544.69. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Illumina Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ ILMN opened at $116.69 on Friday. Illumina, Inc. has a 12 month low of $89.00 and a 12 month high of $232.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.07.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The life sciences company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.13. Illumina had a negative net margin of 25.78% and a positive return on equity of 2.20%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Illumina, Inc. will post 0.91 EPS for the current year.

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.