Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $47.71.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $46.67 price objective (down previously from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Baird R W cut shares of Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $52.50 target price (up from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut Qiagen from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $52.00 to $42.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th.

Qiagen Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of QGEN stock opened at $39.87 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a current ratio of 3.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.85 billion, a PE ratio of 111.02, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.44. Qiagen has a 52-week low of $37.63 and a 52-week high of $49.30.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Groupama Asset Managment increased its position in shares of Qiagen by 8,074.0% during the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 31,817,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,416,844,000 after purchasing an additional 32,216,761 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Qiagen by 77.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,250,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $963,386,000 after buying an additional 9,293,040 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Qiagen during the fourth quarter valued at $181,529,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Qiagen by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 25,319,332 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,127,470,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202,040 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the fourth quarter valued at $95,746,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Qiagen Company Profile

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.