Here’s Why Baron Partners Fund Exited Illumina (ILMN)

Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Partners Fund” first quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. Despite the market volatility, the fund performed well and returned 23.41% in the first quarter, which exceeds the Russell Midcap Growth Index’s 9.14% return and the S&P 500 Index’s 7.50% return in the same period. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.

Baron Partners Fund highlighted stocks like Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) in the first quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in San Diego, California, Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) is a life science tools and integrated systems manufacturer. On May 22, 2023, Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) stock closed at $208.85 per share. One-month return of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) was -4.50%, and its shares lost 13.07% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) has a market capitalization of $33.019 billion.

Baron Partners Fund made the following comment about Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:

“Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN), the market leader in DNA sequencing technology, detracted from performance for the period held. During the quarter, activist investor Carl Icahn nominated three directors to the Illumina board and criticized the current management team’s decisions with respect to Grail, an acquisition that has developed an early cancer detection test called Galleri. Icahn is urging Illumina to sell the Grail business as soon as possible to eliminate the near-term earnings dilution and allow investors to participate in the core Illumina business. In early April, the FTC ordered the divestment of Grail. We exited our position early in the quarter.”

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Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 44 hedge fund portfolios held Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 49 in the previous quarter.

We discussed Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) in another article and shared the list of best stocks to buy and hold according to billionaire Carl Icahn. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.