Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) Short Interest Down 36.7% in May

Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in May. As of May 29th, there was short interest totaling 5,751,359 shares, a decrease of 36.7% from the May 14th total of 9,080,139 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,066,694 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on QGEN shares. Robert W. Baird set a $43.00 price target on Qiagen and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Qiagen from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays set a $38.00 price target on shares of Qiagen and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qiagen has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.98.

Qiagen Price Performance

Shares of QGEN stock traded up $0.36 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $37.37. The company had a trading volume of 1,380,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,305,685. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Qiagen has a 52 week low of $32.53 and a 52 week high of $57.81.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.54. The business had revenue of $492.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $496.15 million. Qiagen had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 14.40%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 7th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a yield of 104.0%. This is a boost from Qiagen’s previous annual dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 7th. Qiagen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.61%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Qiagen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Qiagen by 1,383.3% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Qiagen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Qiagen by 279.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Qiagen by 23.2% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Qiagen Company Profile

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.