Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Cut to Hold at Baird R W

Baird R W cut shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

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

Qiagen Stock Up 2.5 %

QGEN opened at $39.52 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $43.05 and its 200-day moving average is $43.04. Qiagen has a one year low of $38.49 and a one year high of $49.30. The company has a market capitalization of $8.77 billion, a PE ratio of 110.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a current ratio of 3.61.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of QGEN. Groupama Asset Managment increased its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 8,074.0% in the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 31,817,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,416,844,000 after purchasing an additional 32,216,761 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake 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 during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Qiagen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $181,529,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 2,202,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the 4th quarter valued at $53,991,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Qiagen

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.