Analysts Set Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) PT at $47.71

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $47.71.

Several research firms have weighed in on QGEN. Baird R W downgraded Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $52.50 target price (up previously from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Qiagen from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $46.67 price objective (down from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Qiagen Stock Performance

Shares of QGEN opened at $39.65 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a PE ratio of 110.41, a P/E/G 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.19.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.01. Qiagen had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 13.92%. Equities research analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qiagen

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in QGEN. Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in 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 buying an additional 32,216,761 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Qiagen by 9.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,202,040 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Qiagen by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,782,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $970,534,000 after acquiring an additional 531,362 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Qiagen by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,879,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $397,937,000 after purchasing an additional 77,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Qiagen in the 4th quarter worth about $181,529,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.