Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. Takes Position in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 492,540 shares of the life sciences company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,813,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Illumina during the 4th quarter worth $751,000. Zacks Investment Management purchased a new stake in Illumina during the 3rd quarter worth $2,924,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Illumina by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 152,265 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $20,347,000 after purchasing an additional 22,718 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Illumina during the 4th quarter worth $1,464,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Illumina by 720.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,132 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 6,263 shares during the period. 89.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ILMN. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Illumina from $170.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Illumina from $130.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. TD Cowen cut shares of Illumina from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $177.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Illumina from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Illumina presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.90.

Illumina Price Performance

ILMN opened at $85.60 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $13.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.17. Illumina, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.18 and a fifty-two week high of $156.66. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $113.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $129.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 13.37% and a negative net margin of 27.95%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Illumina, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

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.