WCM Investment Management LLC Acquires 1,851,848 Shares of Illumina, Inc. $ILMN

Key Points

• WCM Investment Management significantly boosted its Illumina stake, buying 1,851,848 shares in the first quarter and lifting its holdings to 5,923,173 shares, or about 3.91% of the company.
• Insider selling has been notable, with executives Patricia Leckman and Scott M. Davies recently selling shares, and insiders unloading 1,003,769 shares worth about $155.7 million over the last 90 days.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: the average rating on Illumina is “Hold” with a $156.88 price target, even as several firms raised targets and Illumina posted better-than-expected quarterly EPS and revenue.

WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN - Free Report) by 45.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,923,173 shares of the life sciences company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,851,848 shares during the quarter. Illumina accounts for approximately 1.6% of WCM Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. WCM Investment Management LLC owned 3.91% of Illumina worth $715,579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Illumina by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,081 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Illumina by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,218 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in shares of Illumina by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 33,605 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $4,407,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Illumina by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,536 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Illumina by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Illumina

In related news, SVP Patricia Leckman sold 783 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.59, for a total value of $127,307.97. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 21,259 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,456,500.81. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Scott M. Davies sold 615 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $110,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 20,953 shares in the company, valued at $3,771,540. This trade represents a 2.85% 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 1,003,769 shares of company stock valued at $155,710,908. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ILMN shares. Barclays increased their price target on Illumina from $122.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Illumina in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Illumina from $140.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Illumina in a report on Friday, June 26th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $185.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Illumina from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $156.88.

Illumina Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ILMN opened at $186.65 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Illumina, Inc. has a one year low of $88.00 and a one year high of $196.66. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $166.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $143.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.94, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.47.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The life sciences company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.10. Illumina had a net margin of 19.42% and a return on equity of 31.01%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Illumina has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.150-5.300 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Illumina, Inc. will post 5.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Illumina Company 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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