Norges Bank Invests $166.50 Million in Qiagen N.V. $QGEN

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,652,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $166,500,000. Norges Bank owned 1.73% of Qiagen at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Qiagen by 279.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 851 shares during the period. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new position in Qiagen during the 4th quarter valued at $153,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its stake in Qiagen by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $747,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new position in Qiagen during the 4th quarter valued at $340,000. Finally, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension bought a new position in Qiagen during the 4th quarter valued at $22,958,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qiagen Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:QGEN opened at $36.45 on Thursday. Qiagen N.V. has a one year low of $32.53 and a one year high of $57.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $37.45 and a 200-day moving average of $44.51. The company has a market capitalization of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.21.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. Qiagen had a return on equity of 14.40% and a net margin of 19.16%.The company had revenue of $492.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $496.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 7th. This is an increase from Qiagen’s previous annual dividend of $0.26. This represents a dividend yield of 104.0%. Qiagen’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on QGEN. Wall Street Zen lowered Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays set a $38.00 price target on Qiagen and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $36.00 price target on Qiagen and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.98.

Qiagen Profile

Qiagen NV (NYSE: QGEN) is a global provider of sample and assay technologies designed to enable molecular testing in the fields of molecular diagnostics, applied testing, academic research and pharmaceutical development. The company’s solutions span the full workflow of nucleic acid and protein analysis, offering customers standardized kits, instruments and software tools that streamline the preparation, detection and quantification of DNA, RNA and proteins.

The company’s product portfolio includes nucleic acid extraction and purification systems, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reagents and instrumentation, digital PCR platforms, next-generation sequencing (NGS) library‐preparation kits and proteomics solutions.