Keith Meister Sells 95,000 Shares of Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) Stock

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) Director Keith Meister sold 95,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.29, for a total transaction of $19,312,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,994,425 shares in the company, valued at $405,446,658.25. This trade represents a 4.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Illumina Stock Performance

Shares of ILMN stock opened at $219.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market cap of $33.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $188.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $152.44. Illumina, Inc. has a one year low of $88.00 and a one year high of $220.43.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The life sciences company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’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. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Illumina, Inc. will post 5.36 EPS for the current year.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on ILMN. Wall Street Zen raised Illumina from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Illumina from $155.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Illumina from $192.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Daiwa Securities Group raised shares of Illumina from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Illumina from $95.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $188.40.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Illumina

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ILMN. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Illumina in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,374,423,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Illumina in the 2nd quarter valued at $948,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Illumina during the 2nd quarter worth $30,501,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Illumina during the 2nd quarter worth $129,792,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Illumina by 235.8% during the first quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 11,080 shares of the life sciences company’s stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 7,780 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.42% 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.