Wall Street Zen Upgrades Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) to “Buy”

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on ILMN. Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on shares of Illumina from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Illumina from $140.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Illumina from $192.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Illumina from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on Illumina from $200.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.47.

Illumina Stock Performance

ILMN opened at $205.10 on Friday. Illumina has a 1-year low of $88.00 and a 1-year high of $205.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.03 billion, a PE ratio of 38.26, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.47. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $176.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $147.25.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The life sciences company reported $1.31 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. Illumina’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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Illumina will post 5.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Illumina

In other news, SVP Patricia Leckman sold 783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.59, for a total value of $127,307.97. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Keith A. Meister sold 235,000 shares of Illumina stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.63, for a total value of $38,453,050.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,830,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $463,146,860.76. This trade represents a 7.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 1,003,769 shares of company stock worth $155,710,908 over the last quarter. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Illumina

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Illumina by 0.6% during 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. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Illumina by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,190,114 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $811,895,000 after acquiring an additional 190,324 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Illumina by 45.5% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Illumina by 30.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Illumina by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,869,047 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $375,260,000 after purchasing an additional 130,139 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

Key Illumina News

Here are the key news stories impacting Illumina this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results exceeded expectations: Illumina reported $1.16 billion in revenue, up approximately 9.4%–9.5% year over year, while non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.31 topped the $1.23 consensus estimate. Clinical demand and NovaSeq X placements were key growth drivers. Illumina Q2 financial results
• Positive Sentiment: Full-year guidance was raised: Management increased fiscal 2026 non-GAAP EPS guidance to $5.30–$5.40 and revenue guidance to approximately $4.60–$4.64 billion, modestly ahead of analyst expectations. Illumina outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised price targets: JPMorgan lifted its target to $230 and maintained an “overweight” rating; Stifel raised its target to $225 and assigned a “buy” rating. TD Cowen increased its target to $210 but retained a “hold” rating. These revisions signal greater confidence in Illumina’s earnings outlook, although targets vary considerably.
• Positive Sentiment: AI and drug-discovery opportunities remain a catalyst: CEO Jacob Thaysen highlighted genomic medicine and artificial intelligence applications in life sciences. Eli Lilly also joined Illumina’s Billion Cell Atlas alliance, which aims to create large-scale genomic datasets for identifying disease mechanisms and drug targets. Eli Lilly joins Billion Cell Atlas
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are taking profits near record levels: With ILMN trading close to its one-year high, the strong results may have prompted a “sell-the-news” response as investors sought evidence of further upside beyond the guidance increase.
• Negative Sentiment: China and margins remain concerns: Greater China revenue declined 12%, while full-year non-GAAP operating-margin guidance remained unchanged at 23.4%–23.6%. Management also expects NovaSeq X instrument-placement growth to moderate year over year in the second half. Illumina China and margin analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling may add pressure: Reported insider activity over the past six months included 41 sales and one purchase, though such transactions may reflect scheduled or personal portfolio activity rather than a direct view of fundamentals.

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.