Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Upgraded at Wolfe Research

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) was upgraded by research analysts at Wolfe Research from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a $50.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 22.76% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on QGEN. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Qiagen from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Qiagen from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.05.

Qiagen Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of QGEN stock opened at $40.73 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.42. Qiagen has a 12-month low of $34.74 and a 12-month high of $47.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $43.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.60.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $459.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $453.91 million. Qiagen had a return on equity of 12.59% and a net margin of 17.38%. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Qiagen will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qiagen

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $264,322,000. Nuance Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 311.0% in the first quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 4,493,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,175,000 after acquiring an additional 3,400,255 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Qiagen by 81.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,054,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $245,299,000 after purchasing an additional 2,709,030 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Qiagen by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 24,066,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,045,211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,809,486 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Qiagen by 85.1% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,427,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576,259 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

About Qiagen

QIAGEN N.V. offers sample to insight solutions that transform biological materials into molecular insights worldwide. The company provides primary sample technology consumables, such as nucleic stabilization and purification kits for primary sample materials, manual and automated processing for genotyping, gene expression, and viral and bacterial analysis, as well as silica membranes and magnetic bead technologies; secondary sample technology consumables, including kits and components for purification of nucleic acids from secondary sample materials; and instruments for nucleic acid purification and accessories.