Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on QGEN. Citigroup downgraded Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $55.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday. Barclays set a $53.00 target price on Qiagen and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.28.

Qiagen Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:QGEN opened at $45.25 on Friday. Qiagen has a fifty-two week low of $37.63 and a fifty-two week high of $51.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.11. The company has a market cap of $10.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.59, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.68.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. Qiagen had a net margin of 19.58% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The firm had revenue of $532.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $525.68 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in Qiagen by 1.8% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 11,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $565,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in shares of Qiagen by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $369,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd raised its position in shares of Qiagen by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 2,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Qiagen by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 6,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Qiagen by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 57,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,563,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. 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.