Kerrisdale Advisers LLC Buys Shares of 22,085 Illumina, Inc. $ILMN

Kerrisdale Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 22,085 shares of the life sciences company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,883,000. Illumina makes up about 1.0% of Kerrisdale Advisers LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Illumina by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 20,101,173 shares of the life sciences company’s stock valued at $2,636,483,000 after acquiring an additional 124,323 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Illumina in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,374,423,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in Illumina by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,190,114 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $811,895,000 after purchasing an additional 190,324 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Illumina by 45.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,851,848 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Illumina by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,426,126 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $580,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,099 shares during the last quarter. 89.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Illumina Price Performance

Shares of ILMN stock opened at $215.59 on Monday. Illumina, Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.00 and a twelve month high of $231.81. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.44.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The life sciences company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. Illumina had a return on equity of 29.84% and a net margin of 18.36%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. Illumina has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.300-5.400 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Illumina, Inc. will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ILMN. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Illumina to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Illumina in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of Illumina from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Illumina in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $188.40.

Key Stories Impacting Illumina

Here are the key news stories impacting Illumina this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Illumina’s second-quarter results showed continued operating momentum, with revenue of approximately $1.16 billion, up about 9.5% year over year, and earnings of $1.31 per share versus the $1.23 consensus estimate. Management also raised full-year revenue and non-GAAP EPS guidance. Should You Add Illumina Stock to Your Portfolio Now?
• Positive Sentiment: Investors continue to point to growth in sequencing, oncology applications and multiomics as potential catalysts for ILMN, although cost volatility could pressure margins. Should You Add Illumina Stock to Your Portfolio Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Illumina disclosed a new $1.0 billion five-year revolving credit facility, but reported no borrowings outstanding, limiting the immediate balance-sheet implications.
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional positioning was mixed in the latest quarter, with major investors including FMR, Wellington and JPMorgan adding shares while other funds reduced holdings.
• Negative Sentiment: Director Keith Meister disclosed several sales totaling hundreds of thousands of shares, including 106,543 shares sold for roughly $24.0 million and 138,379 shares sold for approximately $31.7 million. Repeated insider selling can weigh on sentiment, even though it does not necessarily signal deteriorating fundamentals. Insider Selling: Illumina Director Sells 106,543 Shares
• Negative Sentiment: After climbing into the upper $220s and near its 52-week high, ILMN may be experiencing profit-taking. Valuation is also demanding, while reported analyst price targets generally remain below the recent trading level, increasing downside sensitivity if growth expectations cool.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Illumina news, SVP Christensen Jakob Wedel sold 1,033 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.52, for a total transaction of $197,840.16. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 14,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,685,684.96. This trade represents a 6.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Keith A. Meister sold 457,858 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.10, for a total transaction of $91,617,385.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,372,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $474,776,069.40. This represents a 16.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 1,799,688 shares of company stock worth $379,517,231 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

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.