Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on ILMN. Robert W. Baird set a $109.00 price target on shares of Illumina in a report on Friday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Illumina from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Illumina in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Illumina in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Illumina from $114.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.56.

Illumina Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ILMN opened at $141.65 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.41. The company has a market cap of $21.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.76, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.43. Illumina has a one year low of $68.70 and a one year high of $151.34.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Illumina news, insider Scott M. Davies sold 323 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.09, for a total transaction of $43,957.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,434,241.83. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $122.13 per share, for a total transaction 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 position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 2.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Illumina by 39.8% in the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,109 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,454 shares during the last quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Illumina by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,340 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $700,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Illumina in the fourth quarter valued at $437,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Illumina during the fourth quarter valued at $246,000. Finally, Nilsine Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Illumina by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 3,361 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. 89.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Illumina Company Profile

Illumina, Inc (NASDAQ: ILMN) is a global life sciences company that develops, manufactures and markets integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and function. Headquartered in San Diego, California and founded in 1998, Illumina offers a range of sequencing and array-based technologies used by academic researchers, clinical laboratories, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, consumer genomics firms and agricultural researchers to enable discovery, translational research and clinical applications.

The company’s product portfolio includes next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms and associated consumables, microarrays for genotyping and methylation analysis, library preparation kits and targeted assays.