Vestcor Inc Boosts Stock Position in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) by 21.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,589 shares of the life sciences company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,796 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Illumina were worth $2,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Illumina by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,960 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Stockton grew its holdings in shares of Illumina by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 2,162 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in shares of Illumina by 3.0% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,884 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in Illumina by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 6,623 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $885,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in Illumina by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,818 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $759,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

Illumina Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ ILMN opened at $85.60 on Friday. Illumina, Inc. has a 52 week low of $80.18 and a 52 week high of $156.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $113.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $129.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.56 billion, a PE ratio of -11.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.17.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The life sciences company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.06). Illumina had a positive return on equity of 13.37% and a negative net margin of 27.95%. As a group, research analysts expect that Illumina, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Guggenheim cut their target price on Illumina from $170.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Illumina from $127.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on Illumina from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Illumina from $247.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $156.00 price objective on shares of Illumina in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.90.

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.