Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Lowers Holdings in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) by 21.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 44,000 shares of the life sciences company’s stock after selling 12,300 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Illumina were worth $5,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Leavell Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Illumina during the fourth quarter valued at about $207,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its holdings in Illumina by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 5,679 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $759,000 after buying an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in Illumina by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 6,623 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $885,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its stake in Illumina by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 242,007 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $32,339,000 after acquiring an additional 27,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Illumina by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 4,129,855 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $551,625,000 after acquiring an additional 867,673 shares during the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Illumina Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ ILMN opened at $103.57 on Thursday. Illumina, Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.35 and a 52-week high of $156.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.49 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $135.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.43.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The life sciences company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.06). Illumina had a positive return on equity of 12.59% and a negative net margin of 27.95%. Sell-side analysts expect that Illumina, Inc. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ILMN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Illumina from $145.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on shares of Illumina from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Illumina from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Illumina from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Illumina from $250.00 to $247.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $159.45.

Illumina Company 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.