Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $47.71.

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

Qiagen Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:QGEN opened at $39.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.25. The firm has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 111.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.44. Qiagen has a fifty-two week low of $37.63 and a fifty-two week high of $49.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a current ratio of 3.61.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. 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 worth $1,416,844,000 after purchasing an additional 32,216,761 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Qiagen by 9.5% in 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 buying an additional 2,202,040 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Qiagen by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,782,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $970,534,000 after buying an additional 531,362 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Qiagen by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,879,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $397,937,000 after buying an additional 77,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Qiagen during the 4th quarter valued at about $181,529,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.