Sandhill Capital Partners LLC Sells 18,592 Shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)

Sandhill Capital Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 262,927 shares of the life sciences company’s stock after selling 18,592 shares during the period. Illumina comprises about 2.8% of Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Illumina were worth $35,135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Illumina by 6.5% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 8,576 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in Illumina by 4.7% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 2,990 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Illumina by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 12,644 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after acquiring an additional 2,879 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 2.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 30,946 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $4,036,000 after acquiring an additional 755 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Illumina during the third quarter worth about $414,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

Illumina Stock Performance

Illumina stock opened at $73.45 on Tuesday. Illumina, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.55 and a fifty-two week high of $156.66. The company has a market capitalization of $11.63 billion, a PE ratio of -9.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $95.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.59. 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 earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The life sciences company reported $0.86 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Illumina, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on ILMN shares. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Illumina from $170.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Illumina from $247.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Illumina from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $177.00 to $140.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Illumina from $127.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Illumina from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Illumina has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.65.

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.