Wall Street Zen Upgrades Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) to “Buy”

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on QGEN. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective (up previously from $53.00) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Citigroup lowered Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.61.

Qiagen Price Performance

Qiagen stock opened at $46.07 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Qiagen has a 52-week low of $37.63 and a 52-week high of $51.88.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qiagen

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of QGEN. Amalgamated Bank increased its position in shares of Qiagen by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 11,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $565,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its stake in Qiagen by 2.9% during the second quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $369,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd increased its position in shares of Qiagen by 9.4% during the second quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 2,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in Qiagen by 3.7% in the second quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 6,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Qiagen by 0.4% during the third quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 57,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,563,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.