Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Director Keith Meister Sells 299,336 Shares

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) Director Keith Meister sold 299,336 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.96, for a total value of $65,243,274.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,409,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $307,291,123.96. The trade was a 17.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Illumina Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ILMN opened at $219.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market cap of $33.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $188.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $152.44. Illumina, Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.00 and a 1-year high of $220.43.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last released its earnings results 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. Illumina had a net margin of 18.36% and a return on equity of 29.84%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. The business’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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Illumina, Inc. will post 5.36 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Illumina by 113.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,284 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $737,000 after buying an additional 4,940 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Illumina in the 2nd quarter worth $621,000. CW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Illumina in the second quarter valued at $275,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Illumina by 49.0% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 59,645 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $5,691,000 after acquiring an additional 19,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Illumina by 30.9% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 7,404 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $706,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748 shares during the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Illumina News Summary

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

ILMN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Illumina from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Illumina from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Illumina from $192.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Illumina in a report on Friday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $188.40.

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.