Illumina Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 4,552 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 168% compared to the average volume of 1,700 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on ILMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Illumina from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Illumina from $132.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on Illumina from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Illumina from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Illumina in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Scott M. Davies sold 323 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.09, for a total value of $43,957.07. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 17,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,434,241.83. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $122.13 per share, with a total value of $61,065.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,523 shares in the company, valued at $1,529,433.99. This trade represents a 4.16% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Illumina

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ILMN. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Illumina by 20.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,976,850 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $1,897,178,000 after purchasing an additional 3,331,542 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Illumina by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,999,790 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $569,800,000 after purchasing an additional 382,520 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Illumina by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 4,426,471 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $419,585,000 after purchasing an additional 247,460 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its position in Illumina by 1.9% during the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 4,225,529 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $403,158,000 after buying an additional 78,317 shares during the period. Finally, Corvex Management LP grew its position in Illumina by 125.2% during the first quarter. Corvex Management LP now owns 3,829,608 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $303,841,000 after buying an additional 2,129,449 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

Illumina Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ILMN opened at $129.56 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $116.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.77. Illumina has a 52-week low of $68.70 and a 52-week high of $153.06. The company has a market cap of $19.80 billion, a PE ratio of 29.05, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The life sciences company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.18. Illumina had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 29.21%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Illumina has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.650-4.750 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Illumina will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

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.