Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Trading 5% Higher – Still a Buy?

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) rose 5% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $267.30 and last traded at $268.1350. Approximately 364,698 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 2,099,195 shares. The stock had previously closed at $255.38.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ILMN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Illumina in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Illumina in a research report on Monday, July 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Illumina from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Illumina from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $199.12.

Illumina Stock Up 4.2%

The firm has a market cap of $40.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $208.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.53.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The life sciences company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Illumina has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.300-5.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Illumina, Inc. will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Illumina

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Illumina in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,374,423,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Illumina during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $948,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Illumina during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,501,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Illumina during the second quarter valued at approximately $129,792,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Illumina by 235.8% in the first quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 11,080 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $1,366,000 after acquiring an additional 7,780 shares in the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Illumina

Illumina, Inc develops and manufactures genomic analysis technologies used by researchers, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies and other organizations. Its offerings include next-generation DNA sequencing systems, microarray platforms, consumables, laboratory services and bioinformatics software designed to help analyze genetic variation and biological functions.

The company’s sequencing instruments include systems for a range of applications and throughput levels, such as the NovaSeq, NextSeq, MiSeq and iSeq platforms.