Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) saw a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,160,000 shares, an increase of 23.9% from the January 31st total of 2,550,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Qiagen

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the fourth quarter valued at $95,746,000. Forum Financial Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the fourth quarter worth about $221,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Qiagen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $216,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 492,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,922,000 after purchasing an additional 30,989 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in Qiagen by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 197,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,777,000 after buying an additional 45,505 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on QGEN shares. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Qiagen from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $52.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $46.67 price objective (down from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $52.50 target price (up previously from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group dropped their price target 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, Baird R W lowered Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.71.

Qiagen Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of QGEN stock traded down $0.18 during trading on Friday, hitting $39.70. 348,563 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,232,559. Qiagen has a 52-week low of $37.63 and a 52-week high of $49.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $42.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 3.09.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Qiagen will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.