Argent Capital Management LLC Purchases New Holdings in Illumina, Inc. $ILMN

Key Points

• Argent Capital Management purchased 14,634 Illumina shares during the third quarter, valued at approximately $4.0 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 89.42% of the company.
• Illumina shares rose 4.3% to $284.66, near their 12-month high, while the company’s latest quarterly results exceeded analyst expectations for both earnings and revenue.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with ten Buy, six Hold and two Sell ratings and a consensus price target of $219.69. Meanwhile, insiders sold more than 2 million shares worth approximately $436.5 million during the quarter.

Argent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 14,634 shares of the life sciences company's stock, valued at approximately $4,005,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Illumina during the second quarter worth about $3,374,423,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Illumina in the 2nd quarter valued at about $948,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Illumina during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,501,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Illumina during the 2nd quarter worth about $129,792,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC increased its position in Illumina by 235.8% during the 1st quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 11,080 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 7,780 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.42% of the company's stock.

Illumina Stock Up 4.3%

Shares of ILMN traded up $11.62 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $284.66. 1,350,148 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,140,514. The firm has a market cap of $42.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $219.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.95. Illumina, Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.00 and a 12-month high of $284.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The life sciences company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Illumina had a net margin of 18.36% and a return on equity of 29.84%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Illumina has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.300-5.400 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Illumina, Inc. will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Illumina news, Director Keith Meister sold 457,858 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.10, for a total value of $91,617,385.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,372,694 shares of the company's stock, valued at $474,776,069.40. This represents a 16.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,061,850 shares of company stock valued at $436,479,102. Insiders own 2.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ILMN. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Illumina from $226.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Illumina from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Leerink Partners lifted their target price on shares of Illumina from $220.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Illumina from $95.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Illumina in a report on Monday, August 31st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $219.69.

Illumina Company Profile

Illumina, Inc develops and manufactures technologies used to analyze genetic variation and biological function. Its products are primarily based on next-generation sequencing, a method that enables researchers and clinicians to read DNA and RNA for applications including genomic research, disease studies, drug development and clinical testing.

The company offers sequencing instruments, consumables such as reagent kits and flow cells, and related software and informatics solutions. Illumina also provides services and support designed to help customers prepare samples, run sequencing workflows, interpret genomic data and integrate results into research or clinical operations.

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in San Diego, California, Illumina serves customers worldwide, including academic and government research institutions, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, hospitals, clinical laboratories and other healthcare organizations.

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