GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd Reduces Stock Position in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,400,163 shares of the life sciences company’s stock after selling 324,655 shares during the quarter. Illumina accounts for 5.2% of GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd’s holdings in Illumina were worth $320,734,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 1.7% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,960 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Illumina by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 61,749 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $8,052,000 after buying an additional 1,451 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Illumina by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,884 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Illumina in the third quarter valued at approximately $710,000. Finally, Commerce Bank increased its position in shares of Illumina by 3.5% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 6,376 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $831,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ILMN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen cut Illumina from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $177.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Guggenheim reduced 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. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Illumina from $127.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of Illumina from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Illumina from $247.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Illumina presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.90.

Illumina Stock Up 3.4 %

ILMN opened at $87.66 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.17. Illumina, Inc. has a one year low of $80.18 and a one year high of $156.66. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $108.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The life sciences company reported $0.86 EPS 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Illumina, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.