Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 6,321 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 50% compared to the average volume of 4,204 put options.

Illumina Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of ILMN stock opened at $117.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $18.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.03 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Illumina has a fifty-two week low of $89.00 and a fifty-two week high of $232.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $128.22.

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 firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Illumina had a negative net margin of 25.78% and a positive return on equity of 2.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Illumina will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jacob Thaysen bought 7,330 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $135.29 per share, for a total transaction of $991,675.70. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 14,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,010,544.69. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Illumina

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Illumina during the third quarter valued at $29,558,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Illumina by 210.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 48,194 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $6,711,000 after purchasing an additional 32,672 shares in the last quarter. Aquila Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Illumina by 150.0% during the 4th quarter. Aquila Investment Management LLC now owns 25,000 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $3,481,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the last quarter. Weil Company Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Illumina by 59.2% during the third quarter. Weil Company Inc. now owns 22,963 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $3,152,000 after buying an additional 8,539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Illumina by 15.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,967,758 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $2,466,614,000 after buying an additional 2,336,935 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. HSBC cut shares of Illumina from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Illumina from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $253.00 target price on shares of Illumina in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Illumina from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $144.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Illumina currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.70.

Illumina Company 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.