First Trust Advisors LP Sells 135,989 Shares of Illumina, Inc. $ILMN

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its stake in shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) by 15.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 734,621 shares of the life sciences company’s stock after selling 135,989 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Illumina were worth $90,549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ABN Amro Investment Solutions lifted its holdings in Illumina by 30.5% during the 1st quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 5,877 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $724,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Illumina by 23.5% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 20,986 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $2,587,000 after buying an additional 3,990 shares during the last quarter. Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS bought a new stake in Illumina during the first quarter worth about $104,000. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Illumina by 3.2% during the first quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,513 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $680,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Illumina by 3.1% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,822 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Illumina Price Performance

ILMN opened at $194.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.47. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $145.40. Illumina, Inc. has a one year low of $88.00 and a one year high of $199.14.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The life sciences company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.10. Illumina had a net margin of 19.42% and a return on equity of 31.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. Illumina’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Illumina has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.150-5.300 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Illumina, Inc. will post 5.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on ILMN. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Illumina from $140.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Illumina in a report on Monday, July 6th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Illumina in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Illumina from $122.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Illumina from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.88.

Illumina News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Illumina this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Illumina was highlighted in a batch of valuation and relative-performance articles comparing it with peers such as Exelixis and Celldex Therapeutics, which may be keeping attention on whether ILMN looks cheap or expensive versus other healthcare names. EXEL vs. ILMN: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remained middling, with Illumina reported as having an average “Hold” recommendation, suggesting Wall Street is not seeing an immediate reason to aggressively buy or sell the shares. Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around Illumina’s role in the Billion Cell Atlas alliance and broader genomics/CRISPR collaboration was noted in commentary on AstraZeneca, but this appears more like a long-term strategic backdrop than a near-term stock mover. AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN) And The Valuation Case Behind Its Drug Pipeline Narrative
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data showed no meaningful change in reported shares outstanding for short positions, so there is no clear evidence here of a new bearish squeeze or panic selling signal.

Insider Transactions at Illumina

In related news, SVP Patricia Leckman sold 783 shares of Illumina stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.59, for a total value of $127,307.97. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 21,259 shares in the company, valued at $3,456,500.81. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Scott M. Davies sold 615 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $110,700.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 20,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,771,540. This represents a 2.85% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,003,769 shares of company stock worth $155,710,908. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Illumina Profile

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.