Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $151.76 and last traded at $150.0650, with a volume of 818562 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $147.17.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on ILMN. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Illumina from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Illumina from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Illumina in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Illumina in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Illumina has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.47.

Illumina Trading Up 3.6%

The stock has a market cap of $23.30 billion, a PE ratio of 34.19, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s fifty day moving average is $133.32 and its 200-day moving average is $112.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The life sciences company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Illumina had a return on equity of 29.21% and a net margin of 16.40%.The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. Illumina has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.650-4.750 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Illumina, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Illumina

In other Illumina news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $122.13 per share, with a total value of $61,065.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 12,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,529,433.99. This trade represents a 4.16% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Scott M. Davies sold 323 shares of Illumina stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.09, for a total transaction of $43,957.07. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 17,887 shares in the company, valued at $2,434,241.83. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Illumina

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors grew its position in Illumina by 20.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,976,850 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $1,897,178,000 after acquiring an additional 3,331,542 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Illumina by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,999,790 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $569,800,000 after purchasing an additional 382,520 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Illumina by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 4,426,471 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $419,585,000 after purchasing an additional 247,460 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in shares of Illumina by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 4,225,529 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $403,158,000 after purchasing an additional 78,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Illumina by 3.1% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,398,027 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $315,915,000 after buying an additional 102,147 shares during the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.