Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,650,000 shares, a drop of 16.1% from the February 13th total of 3,160,000 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on QGEN. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird cut Qiagen from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $52.50 price objective (up from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Baird R W downgraded Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.67 target price (down previously from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.71.

Qiagen Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:QGEN traded down $0.11 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.64. 768,613 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,020,972. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $41.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.33. The firm has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a PE ratio of 110.38, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.44. 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.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.01. Qiagen had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 4.23%. Research analysts expect that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of QGEN. Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in shares of Qiagen by 8,074.0% during the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 31,817,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,416,844,000 after acquiring an additional 32,216,761 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Qiagen by 77.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,250,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $963,386,000 after buying an additional 9,293,040 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $181,529,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 25,319,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,127,470,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Qiagen during the fourth quarter valued at about $95,746,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Qiagen Company 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.