Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Reduces Stock Position in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lessened its holdings in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) by 64.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 71,334 shares of the company’s stock after selling 129,080 shares during the quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Qiagen were worth $3,177,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new position in Qiagen in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 41.5% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 856 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 152.5% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 871 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 148.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 170.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Qiagen Price Performance

QGEN stock opened at $41.87 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $40.67 and a 200-day moving average of $41.76. Qiagen has a 12-month low of $37.63 and a 12-month high of $49.30. The company has a current ratio of 3.61, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.59, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.67.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. Qiagen had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 13.92%. The company had revenue of $483.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $465.66 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on QGEN shares. Baird R W lowered Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Qiagen from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qiagen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.42.

Qiagen 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.