Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Stock

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) had its price objective lifted by Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the life sciences company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.41% from the stock’s current price.

ILMN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Illumina from $190.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Illumina in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup cut Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $85.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Illumina from $84.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Illumina from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.47.

Illumina Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:ILMN opened at $97.76 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $94.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $15.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.37. Illumina has a 12-month low of $68.70 and a 12-month high of $156.66.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The life sciences company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. Illumina had a return on equity of 28.93% and a net margin of 29.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Illumina will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Illumina

In other Illumina news, CFO Ankur Dhingra purchased 6,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $81.21 per share, with a total value of $495,381.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 24,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,022,616.26. This trade represents a 32.44% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Illumina

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Illumina by 604.9% in the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 430 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Bryce Point Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Illumina in the second quarter valued at approximately $854,000. Next Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Illumina in the second quarter valued at approximately $341,000. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Illumina by 1.8% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 116,536 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $11,119,000 after buying an additional 2,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, South Dakota Investment Council lifted its stake in Illumina by 54.5% in the second quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 32,608 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $3,111,000 after buying an additional 11,500 shares during the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.