Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Sets New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $210.93 and last traded at $211.8860, with a volume of 197905 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $205.00.

Key Stories Impacting Illumina

Here are the key news stories impacting Illumina this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Illumina’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with earnings of $1.31 per share versus the $1.23 consensus estimate and revenue of $1.16 billion versus expectations of $1.13 billion. Revenue increased 9.4% year over year, while fiscal 2026 EPS guidance remains $5.30-$5.40. Illumina stock information
• Positive Sentiment: Several institutional investors increased their positions, including Marshall Wace, Cresset Asset Management and Empowered Funds. Hedge funds and other institutions collectively own approximately 89.4% of ILMN shares, indicating strong professional-investor participation.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst opinions remain mixed. Zacks Research upgraded the stock to “strong buy,” and Leerink Partners raised its target to $210, while Deutsche Bank downgraded the shares to “hold.” The overall consensus rating is “hold,” with an average target of $188.40—below recent trading levels. Analyst coverage of Illumina
• Negative Sentiment: Director Keith A. Meister sold 679,574 Illumina shares from August 19 through August 21 for approximately $145.6 million. The transactions reduced his ownership by roughly one-third, although he still holds about 1.41 million shares. The size and timing of the sales may raise concerns about insider conviction, even though the filings do not establish the reason for the transactions. SEC insider ownership filing
• Negative Sentiment: SVP Christensen Jakob Wedel also sold 1,033 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The smaller, planned transaction is less concerning than Meister’s sales but adds to the recent pattern of insider selling. Illumina insider trading alert

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Illumina in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Guggenheim increased their price target on Illumina from $200.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Illumina from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $188.40.

Illumina Stock Up 2.9%

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $188.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $152.44. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $33.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.45.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Scott D. Ericksen sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.10, for a total value of $225,150.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,243,394.60. The trade was a 9.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Keith A. Meister sold 457,858 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.10, for a total transaction of $91,617,385.80. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,372,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $474,776,069.40. This represents a 16.18% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 2,095,958 shares of company stock valued at $401,720,974 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Illumina

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Illumina by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 20,101,173 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $2,636,483,000 after buying an additional 124,323 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Illumina during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,374,423,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,190,114 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $811,895,000 after acquiring an additional 190,324 shares in the last quarter. 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. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,426,126 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $580,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028,099 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

About Illumina

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.