Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Illumina shares gapped up after JPMorgan Chase upgraded the stock from neutral to overweight and lifted its price target to $185 from $125. The stock opened higher at $166.16 versus its prior close of $160.03.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed overall: several firms recently adjusted ratings and targets, but MarketBeat shows an average rating of Hold with a consensus price target of $142.13. Current ratings include eight Buys, eight Holds, and two Sells.
• Illumina recently reported better-than-expected earnings, posting $1.15 EPS on $1.09 billion in revenue, both ahead of estimates. The company also guided FY 2026 EPS to 5.150-5.300, while insiders have sold a notable amount of stock in the past 90 days.

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to an overweight rating. The stock had previously closed at $160.03, but opened at $166.16. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now has a $185.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $125.00. Illumina shares last traded at $165.04, with a volume of 183,674 shares changing hands.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on ILMN. Barclays raised their price target on Illumina from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Illumina in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Illumina from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Illumina from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Illumina from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Illumina has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $142.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Scott M. Davies sold 615 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $98,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 21,568 shares in the company, valued at $3,450,880. This trade represents a 2.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Scott D. Ericksen sold 1,500 shares of Illumina stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.10, for a total transaction of $225,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,946 shares in the company, valued at $2,243,394.60. The trade was a 9.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,003,154 shares of company stock valued at $155,600,208. Insiders own 2.90% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Illumina

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in Illumina by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,081 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of Illumina by 3.7% during the fourth 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. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Illumina by 3.1% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,822 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Illumina by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,039 shares of the life sciences company's stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.42% of the company's stock.

Illumina Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $139.27 and a 200-day moving average of $134.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.50.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The life sciences company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.07 billion. Illumina had a return on equity of 31.01% and a net margin of 19.42%.The company's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. Illumina has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.150-5.300 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Illumina, Inc. will post 5.2 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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