Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Director Keith Meister Sells 231,433 Shares of Company Stock

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) Director Keith Meister sold 231,433 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.52, for a total transaction of $55,201,399.16. Following the sale, the director owned 538,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $128,542,482.84. This trade represents a 30.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Illumina Stock Down 8.2%

ILMN stock traded down $18.54 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $208.00. The company had a trading volume of 4,232,792 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,195,646. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a current ratio of 2.63. The company has a market capitalization of $31.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $249.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.46. Illumina, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $112.65 and a fifty-two week high of $309.35.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The life sciences company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.26. Illumina had a return on equity of 28.38% and a net margin of 19.72%. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Illumina, Inc. will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Illumina

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ILMN. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Illumina in the second quarter worth $3,374,423,000. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Illumina by 45.5% during the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 5,923,173 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $715,579,000 after acquiring an additional 1,851,848 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in shares of Illumina during the 2nd quarter valued at $617,981,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Illumina by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,100,638 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $258,924,000 after acquiring an additional 29,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Southpoint Capital Advisors LP boosted its position in Illumina by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP now owns 2,100,000 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $258,846,000 after purchasing an additional 349,536 shares during the period. 89.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on ILMN shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Illumina from $225.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Evercore restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Illumina in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Argus boosted their price target on Illumina from $180.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Illumina from $320.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Stephens downgraded Illumina from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $275.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Illumina has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $244.24.

Illumina Company Profile

Illumina, Inc is a biotechnology company that develops and manufactures genomics and genetic-analysis technologies. Its products are used to study DNA and RNA in applications including biomedical research, clinical testing, pharmaceutical development, reproductive health, oncology and population genomics.

The company’s offerings include next-generation sequencing systems, consumable flow cells and reagent kits, microarrays, and genomic data-analysis software. Its sequencing portfolio includes instruments such as the NovaSeq, NextSeq, MiSeq and iSeq platforms, while its informatics products include the DRAGEN platform, which supports the processing and interpretation of sequencing data.