Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Short Interest Up 17.4% in September

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,500,000 shares, an increase of 17.4% from the August 31st total of 2,980,000 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,220,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on QGEN. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Qiagen from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wolfe Research upgraded Qiagen from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Qiagen from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qiagen has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.25.

Institutional Trading of Qiagen

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in Qiagen during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Toronto Dominion Bank purchased a new position in shares of Qiagen in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of Qiagen during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Qiagen during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in Qiagen by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qiagen Trading Up 0.0 %

QGEN traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $45.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 53,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,188,568. The firm has a market cap of $10.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.34, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.39. Qiagen has a 52-week low of $34.74 and a 52-week high of $47.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $45.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.48.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $496.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $495.45 million. Qiagen had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 12.92%. Qiagen’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Qiagen will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Qiagen Company Profile

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.