Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – What’s Next?

Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 2,939,119 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 25% from the previous session’s volume of 2,345,403 shares.The stock last traded at $42.3040 and had previously closed at $38.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

QGEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Qiagen and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Qiagen in a report on Monday, May 18th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 price target (down from $46.00) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Kepler Capital Markets set a $38.60 price target on shares of Qiagen and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Qiagen from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Qiagen has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.15.

Qiagen Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $8.56 billion, a PE ratio of 21.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $36.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.60.

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

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 7th. This is a positive change from Qiagen’s previous annual dividend of $0.26. This represents a dividend yield of 90.0%. Qiagen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.32%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in Qiagen in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Qiagen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Qiagen by 23.2% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

About Qiagen

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.