Bender Robert & Associates Sells 8,960 Shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Bender Robert & Associates reduced its stake in shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) by 20.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 35,619 shares of the life sciences company’s stock after selling 8,960 shares during the quarter. Illumina comprises 1.1% of Bender Robert & Associates’ holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Bender Robert & Associates’ holdings in Illumina were worth $4,760,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ILMN. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Illumina by 1.7% in the 3rd 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. Bank of Stockton lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 2,162 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,884 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 6,623 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $885,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,818 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $759,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Illumina Price Performance

NASDAQ:ILMN opened at $84.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.17. Illumina, Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.18 and a 52-week high of $156.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $116.45 and a 200 day moving average of $130.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.77.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ILMN. Citigroup decreased their price target on Illumina from $130.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Guggenheim cut their price target on Illumina from $170.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen lowered Illumina from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $177.00 to $140.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Illumina from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Illumina from $250.00 to $247.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $146.85.

Illumina 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.