On September 15, Illumina rose 5.24% in regular trading, trading at $219.11 per share, with turnover of $145 million. The rally was driven by a confluence of bullish catalysts including a major analyst upgrade and upcoming index inclusion.

UBS recently upgraded Illumina from Neutral to Buy, lifting its price target sharply from $135 to $260 — well above the analyst consensus mean target of $193.61 — sending a strong bullish signal. Simultaneously, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that Illumina will officially join the S&P 500 index before the open on September 21 as part of its quarterly rebalance, replacing Builders FirstSource. The inclusion is expected to generate mandatory buying from passive index-tracking funds, providing additional demand support for the stock.

Separately, RBC Capital Markets maintained an Outperform rating with a $230 target, noting that Illumina's clinical sequencing revenue could sustain mid-teens growth driven by oncology volume, while competitive concerns are fading. The company also reported strong Q2 results, with adjusted EPS of $1.31 beating estimates of $1.23, and revenue of $1.159 billion exceeding the $1.130 billion consensus.

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