Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

QGEN has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup downgraded shares of Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $57.89 to $52.63 in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $57.89 target price (up from $55.79) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.84.

Qiagen Stock Performance

NYSE:QGEN opened at $48.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Qiagen has a 1 year low of $39.61 and a 1 year high of $54.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $48.06 and a 200-day moving average of $49.51.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $532.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $525.68 million. Qiagen had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 19.58%.The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the third quarter worth $36,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Qiagen by 1,383.3% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its stake in Qiagen by 998.9% in the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 889 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 400.5% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 849 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 260.1% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 796 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

About Qiagen

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.