Viking Global Trims Position in Illumina Inc (ILMN) But Might Still Be Bullish

One thing seems certain: Viking Global remains bullish on Illumina. After all, shareholders are excited regarding the company’s future, which seems bright following the recently announced 15-year lease of a 360,000 square feet lab, intended for a huge BioMed project in Foster City. Furthermore, the company not only achieved a solid third-quarter in 2014, but also presented an optimistic full-year outlook for both top- and bottom-line growth. Viking Global’s largest holding is also set to launch several new products, which will expand Illumina’s portfolio significantly. Hence, much to the relief of Mr Halvorsen, raising his hedge fund’s stake in the healthcare company by more than 400% in 2014 seems justified. Taking the optimistic outlook for 2015 into account, and the fact that the stock grew by more than 71% over the past year, Viking Global will surely benefit from holding on to the largest position in its equity portfolio.

In addition to the large position held by Viking Global, Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN) enjoys the backing of numerous institutional shareholders. Samuel Isaly’s health care fund Orbimed Advisors for example, disclosed a position in the company of 1.34 million shares last quarter. Another fund displaying a bullish stance towards Illumina is David Goel and Paul Ferri’s Matrix Capital Management, with a stake of 900,000 shares, representing a whopping 7.9% of the firm’s equity portfolio. David E. Shaw’s D E Shaw also became interested in the company last quarter, increasing its exposure to the healthcare firm by 60% and thus bringing its total holdings to 748,400 shares.

Disclosure: Pablo Erbar holds no position in any stocks or funds mentioned.