Troluce Capital Advisors LLC Invests $14.51 Million in Qiagen N.V. $QGEN

Troluce Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 362,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,514,000. Qiagen accounts for approximately 0.9% of Troluce Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in QGEN. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Qiagen by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 24,205,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,088,538,000 after buying an additional 264,921 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Qiagen by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,542,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $433,871,000 after purchasing an additional 118,135 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Qiagen by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,429,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,072,000 after purchasing an additional 906,589 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Qiagen by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,907,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $355,614,000 after purchasing an additional 697,342 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of Qiagen by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 4,290,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,471,000 after purchasing an additional 181,509 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Qiagen Price Performance

NYSE QGEN opened at $41.38 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a PE ratio of 21.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.64. Qiagen N.V. has a 52 week low of $32.53 and a 52 week high of $57.81. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.09.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $492.32 million for 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 7th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is a boost from Qiagen’s previous annual dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 7th. This represents a yield of 90.0%. Qiagen’s payout ratio is currently 18.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qiagen in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Berenberg Bank set a $45.50 price objective on shares of Qiagen and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Kepler Capital Markets set a $38.60 price objective on shares of Qiagen and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Citigroup reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Barclays set a $38.00 price target on shares of Qiagen and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.34.

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.