Keith Meister Sells 285,238 Shares of Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Stock

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) Director Keith Meister sold 285,238 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.86, for a total value of $61,000,998.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,709,187 shares in the company, valued at $365,526,731.82. The trade was a 14.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Illumina Stock Up 2.9%

ILMN stock opened at $219.40 on Friday. Illumina, Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.00 and a 52 week high of $220.43. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $152.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $33.13 billion, a PE ratio of 40.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.45.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Illumina has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.300-5.400 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Illumina, Inc. will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Illumina

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Illumina by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 20,101,173 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $2,636,483,000 after buying an additional 124,323 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Illumina during the second quarter worth $3,374,423,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 190,324 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,851,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Illumina by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,426,126 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $580,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ILMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Illumina from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Illumina from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. 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. Wall Street Zen raised Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Illumina in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Illumina presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $188.40.

Key Illumina News

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

Illumina Company 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.