Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $47.71.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.67 price target (down previously from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Qiagen from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Baird R W cut shares of Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Institutional Trading of Qiagen

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of QGEN. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in Qiagen by 8,074.0% during the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 31,817,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,416,844,000 after buying an additional 32,216,761 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the 4th quarter valued at about $181,529,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Qiagen by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 25,319,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,127,470,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202,040 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Qiagen during the fourth quarter worth about $95,746,000. Finally, Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new stake in Qiagen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,991,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Qiagen Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:QGEN opened at $40.70 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.61, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.05 billion, a PE ratio of 113.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.62. Qiagen has a 1 year low of $37.63 and a 1 year high of $49.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $39.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.75.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.01. Qiagen had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 4.23%. Analysts expect that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Company Profile

QIAGEN NV is a holding company, which engages in the provision of Sample to Insight solutions that enable customers to gain valuable molecular insights from samples containing the building blocks of life. The company sample technologies isolate and process DNA, RNA, and proteins from blood, tissue, and other materials.