Illumina, Inc. (ILMN) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Investment Research

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday.

According to Zacks, “Illumina exited the second quarter on a solid note, with both earnings and revenues beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The top line was strong on new product launches including the VeriSeq NIPT Solution in Europe and the strength in NovaSeq. Outside the U.S., the rate of NIPT adoption is increasing. In this regard to note, over the last three months, Illumina was trading above the broader industry. The company’s raised guidance is encouraging indicating this bullish trend to continue in the coming period. We are currently looking forward to the performance of the Extended RAS Panel that is slated for launch in the third quarter. We are also looking forward to GRAIL, Illumina’s venture in the cancer screening market. On the flip side, weak margins owing to NovaSeq launch, higher array services revenues and product mix within sequencing consumables will continue to act as deterrents. Also, NIH funding issue and a tough competitive landscap”

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on ILMN. Cowen and Company restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Illumina in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank AG set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Illumina and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. BidaskClub raised shares of Illumina from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. First Analysis raised shares of Illumina from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $176.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Vetr cut shares of Illumina from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $202.18 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $176.63.

Shares of Illumina (NASDAQ ILMN) traded up 2.63% during trading on Friday, reaching $199.58. 937,760 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. Illumina has a 1-year low of $119.37 and a 1-year high of $199.95. The company has a market capitalization of $29.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.04 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $174.66 and a 200-day moving average of $171.89.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The life sciences company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $662 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $642.38 million. Illumina had a net margin of 30.27% and a return on equity of 19.69%. The business’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Illumina will post $3.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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In other Illumina news, Director A Blaine Bowman sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.61, for a total value of $417,703.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,269,706.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jay T. Flatley sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.14, for a total transaction of $3,682,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 539,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,283,868.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 156,770 shares of company stock worth $28,069,728 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ILMN. Advocacy Wealth Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Illumina during the first quarter valued at approximately $102,000. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in shares of Illumina during the first quarter valued at approximately $117,000. Gemmer Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Illumina by 5.7% in the first quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC now owns 686 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $117,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Patten Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Illumina by 2.7% in the first quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 965 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $166,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NN Investment Partners Holdings N.V. boosted its position in shares of Illumina by 11.3% in the second quarter. NN Investment Partners Holdings N.V. now owns 985 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $171,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.81% of the company’s stock.

Illumina Company Profile

Illumina, Inc (Illumina) is a provider of sequencing- and array-based solutions for genetic analysis. The Company operates through two segments: Core Illumina and the consolidated variable interest entities (VIEs), which include the activities of GRAIL, Inc (GRAIL) and Helix Holdings I, LLC (Helix). Core Illumina consists of its core operations.

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