Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Cut to Hold at HSBC

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) was downgraded by investment analysts at HSBC from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have a $100.00 target price on the life sciences company’s stock. HSBC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 12.40% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Illumina from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Illumina from $170.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lowered shares of Illumina from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $130.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Illumina from $170.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Illumina from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $155.45.

Illumina Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ILMN opened at $88.97 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $124.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.10. Illumina has a 12-month low of $88.75 and a 12-month high of $156.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ILMN. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Illumina by 408.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,025,301 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $2,408,721,000 after buying an additional 14,481,232 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Illumina by 26.6% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Illumina by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,402,057 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $454,617,000 after acquiring an additional 27,618 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Illumina by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,727,827 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $354,933,000 after acquiring an additional 48,018 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in Illumina by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,516,359 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $328,158,000 after purchasing an additional 87,599 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

About Illumina

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.