Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the twelve research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $44.9789.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Qiagen from $60.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $36.00 price target on Qiagen and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Qiagen from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $43.00 target price on Qiagen and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 price target (down from $46.00) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Thursday, May 7th.

Qiagen Stock Performance

Shares of QGEN opened at $36.42 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.42. The firm has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a PE ratio of 19.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.66. Qiagen has a 12-month low of $32.53 and a 12-month high of $57.81. The company has a current ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.54. Qiagen had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 14.40%. The firm had revenue of $492.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $496.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This is a boost from Qiagen’s previous annual dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 7th. This represents a dividend yield of 104.0%. Qiagen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.61%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Qiagen by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 24,205,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,088,538,000 after buying an additional 264,921 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Qiagen by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,542,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $433,871,000 after acquiring an additional 118,135 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Qiagen by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,429,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,072,000 after acquiring an additional 906,589 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Qiagen by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,907,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $355,614,000 after acquiring an additional 697,342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Qiagen by 12.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 4,757,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,498,000 after acquiring an additional 524,959 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

About Qiagen

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.