Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) Short Interest Up 28.6% in January

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 30th, there was short interest totaling 8,300,465 shares, a growth of 28.6% from the January 15th total of 6,455,325 shares. Approximately 5.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,093,599 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.0 days. Based on an average daily volume of 2,093,599 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.0 days. Approximately 5.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on ILMN. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Illumina in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Illumina from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Illumina from $144.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Illumina from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Illumina from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Illumina currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.17.

Insider Activity

In other Illumina news, insider Scott M. Davies sold 323 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider owned 17,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,434,241.83. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Illumina

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ILMN. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its stake in shares of Illumina by 271.2% in the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 21,189 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $2,779,000 after purchasing an additional 15,481 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in Illumina by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 31,841 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $4,176,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Illumina by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,536 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Illumina by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 27,332 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $3,585,000 after buying an additional 1,883 shares during the period. Finally, Mariner LLC boosted its stake in shares of Illumina by 123.2% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 109,833 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $14,426,000 after buying an additional 60,618 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

Illumina Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:ILMN traded up $2.37 during trading on Monday, hitting $116.81. 1,902,859 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,330,076. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $137.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $116.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.43, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.45. Illumina has a 12-month low of $68.70 and a 12-month high of $155.53.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The life sciences company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. Illumina had a net margin of 19.57% and a return on equity of 31.04%. Illumina’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. Illumina has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.050-5.200 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Illumina will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.