Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 286,665 Shares of Qiagen N.V. $QGEN

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) by 20.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,665,011 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 286,665 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Qiagen were worth $66,649,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in QGEN. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Qiagen during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Qiagen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in 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. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new stake in Qiagen in the third quarter worth approximately $64,000. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Qiagen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $70,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Qiagen Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:QGEN opened at $41.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a PE ratio of 21.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $38.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.88. Qiagen N.V. has a twelve month low of $32.53 and a twelve month high of $57.81.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.54. Qiagen had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 14.40%. The company had revenue of $492.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $496.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 7th. This represents a dividend yield of 90.0%. This is a boost from Qiagen’s previous annual dividend of $0.26. Qiagen’s dividend payout ratio is 18.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Qiagen from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Berenberg Bank set a $45.50 price target on Qiagen and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Qiagen from an “overweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Robert W. Baird set a $43.00 price objective on Qiagen and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $36.00 price objective on Qiagen and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.34.

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.