Stevens Capital Management LP Makes New Investment in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,556 shares of the life sciences company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Illumina in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Illumina by 344.6% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 249 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Illumina in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its stake in Illumina by 375.0% in the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 285 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its stake in Illumina by 183.0% in the fourth quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 300 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

Illumina Price Performance

NASDAQ ILMN traded up $1.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $122.28. 829,310 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,718,479. Illumina, Inc. has a 52-week low of $89.00 and a 52-week high of $213.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $131.94 and its 200-day moving average is $127.50.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The life sciences company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Illumina had a negative net margin of 25.78% and a positive return on equity of 2.20%. Illumina’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Illumina, Inc. will post 0.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Illumina

In other news, CEO Jacob Thaysen bought 7,330 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $135.29 per share, for a total transaction of $991,675.70. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,010,544.69. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $253.00 target price on shares of Illumina in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $170.00 target price on shares of Illumina in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. OTR Global reaffirmed a “mixed” rating on shares of Illumina in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of Illumina from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $144.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $167.70.

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.