Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Stock Moved Down to “Hold” by Stephens

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) was downgraded by analysts at Stephens from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Friday, Zacks reports.

ILMN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Zacks Research cut Illumina from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Leerink Partners upped their price objective on Illumina from $220.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Illumina from $155.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Illumina in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised Illumina from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $234.41.

Illumina Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ILMN opened at $269.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $40.68 billion, a PE ratio of 50.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.41. Illumina has a 1 year low of $94.00 and a 1 year high of $309.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $242.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $191.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Keith Meister sold 457,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 2,372,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $474,776,069.40. This trade represents a 16.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold 2,061,850 shares of company stock worth $436,479,102 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Illumina in the second quarter worth about $3,374,423,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Illumina during the second quarter valued at approximately $948,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Illumina during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,501,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Illumina during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $129,792,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new position in Illumina during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,711,000. Institutional investors own 89.42% of the company’s stock.

More Illumina News

Here are the key news stories impacting Illumina this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Illumina’s upcoming quarterly report could benefit from strong clinical demand, NovaSeq X adoption, new instrument placements, and consumables growth. Analysts also expect year-over-year earnings growth and see potential for an earnings beat, although research-market weakness remains a concern. ILMN Q3 Earnings Preview: Strong Clinical Demand May Lift Performance
• Positive Sentiment: The company launched three early-access capabilities for its BioInsight Platform—Workflow Orchestrator, DRAGEN Ultra with dnaAI, and Learning Cohorts. The tools expand Illumina’s AI-driven variant prioritization, sequencing analysis, and genomic-data workflow offerings, potentially increasing the strategic importance of software and data services. How Investors May Respond To Illumina BioInsight AI Rollout
• Neutral Sentiment: Illumina is expected to report quarterly results next week. The event is a major near-term catalyst, with investor attention likely centered on clinical demand, NovaSeq X placements, consumables revenue, and management’s outlook. Illumina Expected to Release Quarterly Earnings on Thursday
• Neutral Sentiment: The consensus price target was raised 19.65% to $250.77, signaling improved analyst expectations, but that target remains below Illumina’s recent trading level and may limit upside if not revised further. Illumina Consensus Price Target Increased
• Negative Sentiment: Stephens downgraded Illumina to Equal Weight, reducing a potential source of buying pressure and reflecting a more cautious view of the stock’s risk-reward profile. Stephens Downgrades Illumina to Equal Weight
• Negative Sentiment: Illumina recently fell alongside Twist Bioscience and other AI- and genomics-related stocks in a broad technology selloff, indicating that sector sentiment—not company-specific news—has also been driving volatility. Twist Bioscience and Illumina Slide as AI and Genomics Stocks Sell Off

Illumina Company Profile

Illumina, Inc is a biotechnology company that develops and manufactures genomics and genetic-analysis technologies. Its products are used to study DNA and RNA in applications including biomedical research, clinical testing, pharmaceutical development, reproductive health, oncology and population genomics.

The company’s offerings include next-generation sequencing systems, consumable flow cells and reagent kits, microarrays, and genomic data-analysis software. Its sequencing portfolio includes instruments such as the NovaSeq, NextSeq, MiSeq and iSeq platforms, while its informatics products include the DRAGEN platform, which supports the processing and interpretation of sequencing data.