Wall Street Zen Upgrades Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) to “Buy”

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Illumina from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. UBS Group raised shares of Illumina from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Illumina from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Illumina in a report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Illumina from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Illumina currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $222.19.

Illumina Price Performance

ILMN opened at $276.67 on Friday. Illumina has a fifty-two week low of $88.00 and a fifty-two week high of $309.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $228.75 and a 200 day moving average of $182.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market cap of $41.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.62, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.41.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The life sciences company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. Illumina had a net margin of 18.36% and a return on equity of 29.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. Illumina has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.300-5.400 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Illumina will post 5.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Illumina

In other Illumina news, Director Keith Meister sold 119,501 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.40, for a total transaction of $26,099,018.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 770,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $168,244,440. This represents a 13.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Christensen Wedel sold 1,033 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.52, for a total transaction of $197,840.16. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 14,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,685,684.96. This trade represents a 6.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 2,061,850 shares of company stock worth $436,479,102 over the last 90 days. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Illumina

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Illumina in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,374,423,000. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 45.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new stake in shares of Illumina during the second quarter worth $617,981,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Illumina during the second quarter worth $358,652,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 190.1% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,812,928 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $318,767,000 after acquiring an additional 1,188,004 shares in the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.