Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Reaches New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Illumina shares reached a new 52-week high, trading near $282.58 after RBC raised its price target from $230 to $310 and maintained an outperform rating.
• Analyst sentiment has improved, with UBS upgrading the stock to buy and Leerink Partners raising its target to $300. However, the overall consensus remains “Hold,” with an average price target of $219.69.
• Institutional investors hold 89.42% of Illumina’s shares, while insiders have sold more than 2 million shares worth approximately $436.5 million over the past 90 days. The company’s latest quarterly results beat estimates, with revenue rising 9.4% year over year.

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $230.00 to $310.00. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Illumina traded as high as $281.46 and last traded at $282.5770, with a volume of 803535 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $273.04.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Illumina from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $135.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Illumina from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Leerink Partners raised their target price on shares of Illumina from $220.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Illumina from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on Illumina from $180.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Illumina presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $219.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Keith Meister sold 457,858 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.10, for a total value of $91,617,385.80. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,372,694 shares in the company, valued at $474,776,069.40. This represents a 16.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,061,850 shares of company stock worth $436,479,102. Insiders own 2.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Illumina in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,374,423,000. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in shares of Illumina during the 2nd quarter valued at $617,981,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Illumina in the second quarter worth $358,652,000. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Illumina by 45.5% in the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 5,923,173 shares of the life sciences company's stock worth $715,579,000 after acquiring an additional 1,851,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Illumina during the second quarter worth $293,846,000. 89.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Illumina Trading Up 3.6%

The firm has a market capitalization of $42.71 billion, a PE ratio of 52.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $219.37 and a 200-day moving average of $175.95.

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

About Illumina

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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