Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Sees Large Volume Increase

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Monday . Approximately 1,375,287 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 12% from the previous session’s volume of 1,230,574 shares.The stock last traded at $43.07 and had previously closed at $42.98.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on QGEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Qiagen from $61.86 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Qiagen from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $49.48 to $51.00 in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Qiagen from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qiagen has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.95.

Qiagen Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $42.50 and its 200-day moving average is $42.83. The stock has a market cap of $9.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $459.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $453.91 million. Qiagen had a net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 12.59%. Qiagen’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Qiagen will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of QGEN. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in Qiagen during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Qiagen during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Qiagen by 66.3% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new stake in Qiagen during the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Qiagen during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Qiagen

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.