Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Lowered to Neutral Rating by Robert W. Baird

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) was downgraded by research analysts at Robert W. Baird from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have a $42.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $52.00. Robert W. Baird’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 4.87% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.67 price objective (down previously from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group cut their target price on Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $52.50 target price (up previously from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Qiagen has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.71.

Qiagen Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:QGEN opened at $40.05 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.16. Qiagen has a twelve month low of $39.27 and a twelve month high of $49.30. The company has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.52, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a quick ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 3.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.01. Qiagen had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 4.23%. Research analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in QGEN. Groupama Asset Managment increased its stake in shares of Qiagen by 8,074.0% in the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 31,817,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,416,844,000 after buying an additional 32,216,761 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Qiagen by 77.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,250,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $963,386,000 after buying an additional 9,293,040 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the fourth quarter worth $181,529,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Qiagen by 9.5% during 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 during the period. Finally, Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the fourth quarter worth $53,991,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Qiagen

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.