Gabelli Funds LLC Invests $663,000 in Qiagen N.V. $QGEN

Gabelli Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 16,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in Qiagen by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 254,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,165,000 after purchasing an additional 6,460 shares in the last quarter. Capula Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Qiagen during the first quarter valued at about $1,114,000. State of Wyoming lifted its stake in Qiagen by 38.3% during the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,000 after buying an additional 1,281 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new position in shares of Qiagen in the first quarter worth about $1,368,000. Finally, Andra AP fonden acquired a new position in shares of Qiagen in the first quarter worth about $225,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Qiagen Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE:QGEN opened at $41.47 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a PE ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.64. Qiagen N.V. has a fifty-two week low of $32.53 and a fifty-two week high of $57.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 2.57. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $38.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.88.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The business had revenue of $492.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $496.15 million. Qiagen had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 14.40%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is an increase from Qiagen’s previous annual dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 7th. This represents a dividend yield of 90.0%. Qiagen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Kepler Capital Markets set a $38.60 target price on shares of Qiagen and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Qiagen from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Qiagen from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Berenberg Bank set a $45.50 target price on Qiagen and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.34.

Qiagen Company Profile

Qiagen NV (NYSE: QGEN) is a global provider of sample and assay technologies designed to enable molecular testing in the fields of molecular diagnostics, applied testing, academic research and pharmaceutical development. The company’s solutions span the full workflow of nucleic acid and protein analysis, offering customers standardized kits, instruments and software tools that streamline the preparation, detection and quantification of DNA, RNA and proteins.

The company’s product portfolio includes nucleic acid extraction and purification systems, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reagents and instrumentation, digital PCR platforms, next-generation sequencing (NGS) library?preparation kits and proteomics solutions.