Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Earns “Equal Weight” Rating from Morgan Stanley

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $156.00 price target on the life sciences company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 6.73% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on ILMN. Daiwa America upgraded Illumina to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Illumina from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Illumina from $176.00 to $164.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Illumina from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $164.00.

Illumina Stock Performance

Shares of ILMN opened at $146.17 on Tuesday. Illumina has a 12 month low of $92.69 and a 12 month high of $156.66. The company’s fifty day moving average is $138.84 and its 200-day moving average is $123.95. The firm has a market cap of $23.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.68 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The life sciences company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.26. Illumina had a positive return on equity of 7.29% and a negative net margin of 36.10%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Illumina will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Illumina

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ILMN. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Illumina by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,341 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $140,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its stake in Illumina by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 4,484 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $585,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its holdings in Illumina by 1.7% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,818 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $759,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 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.