Traders Purchase Large Volume of Illumina Call Options (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 4,552 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 168% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,700 call options.

Illumina Price Performance

Shares of ILMN stock opened at $130.51 on Friday. Illumina has a fifty-two week low of $68.70 and a fifty-two week high of $153.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.43. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $117.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.96.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The life sciences company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Illumina had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 29.21%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. Illumina has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.650-4.750 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Illumina will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 500 shares of Illumina stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $122.13 per share, for a total transaction of $61,065.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 12,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,529,433.99. The trade was a 4.16% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott M. Davies sold 323 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.09, for a total transaction of $43,957.07. Following the sale, the insider owned 17,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,434,241.83. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Illumina

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Illumina by 65.7% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 290 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Illumina in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Illumina in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Illumina in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC boosted its position in Illumina by 173.6% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ILMN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Illumina from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Illumina from $105.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Illumina in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.19.

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.