Illumina, Inc. $ILMN Shares Sold by GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd

Key Points

• GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT cut its Illumina stake by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 275,161 shares. After the sale, the fund still held 1,576,637 shares, or about 1.03% of the company.
• Illumina reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $1.15 per share versus $1.05 expected and revenue of $1.09 billion versus $1.07 billion expected. The company also raised its FY 2026 guidance to 5.150-5.300 EPS.
• Insider selling has continued, including a large sale by Director Keith A. Meister, while analysts remain mixed overall. The stock currently has a consensus Hold rating with an average target price of $137.75.

GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd lessened its holdings in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN - Free Report) by 14.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,576,637 shares of the life sciences company's stock after selling 275,161 shares during the period. Illumina accounts for about 5.5% of GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd owned approximately 1.03% of Illumina worth $206,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Essex Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Illumina in the 4th quarter valued at $267,000. Welch & Forbes LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Illumina in the 4th quarter valued at $236,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Illumina in the 4th quarter valued at $70,844,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Illumina in the 4th quarter valued at $1,856,000. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Illumina by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 54,886 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $7,199,000 after purchasing an additional 8,602 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.42% of the company's stock.

Illumina Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ILMN opened at $162.96 on Friday. Illumina, Inc. has a 1 year low of $78.79 and a 1 year high of $165.37. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $133.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $132.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.66 billion, a PE ratio of 29.63, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.42.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The life sciences company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.10. Illumina had a net margin of 19.42% and a return on equity of 31.01%. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. Illumina's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Illumina has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.150-5.300 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Illumina, Inc. will post 5.2 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Illumina news, Director Keith A. Meister sold 104,393 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.34, for a total value of $15,172,478.62. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,500,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $508,696,976.32. This represents a 2.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Christensen Jakob Wedel sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.04, for a total transaction of $97,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 15,056 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,093,386.24. This trade represents a 4.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 330,160 shares of company stock valued at $48,028,308. Insiders own 2.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ILMN shares. Robert W. Baird set a $137.00 price objective on shares of Illumina in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Illumina in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Illumina from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Illumina in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of Illumina from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $137.75.

Illumina Profile

Illumina, Inc NASDAQ: ILMN is a global life sciences company that develops, manufactures and markets integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and function. Headquartered in San Diego, California and founded in 1998, Illumina offers a range of sequencing and array-based technologies used by academic researchers, clinical laboratories, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, consumer genomics firms and agricultural researchers to enable discovery, translational research and clinical applications.

The company's product portfolio includes next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms and associated consumables, microarrays for genotyping and methylation analysis, library preparation kits and targeted assays.

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