Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Short Interest Update

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,160,000 shares, an increase of 23.9% from the January 31st total of 2,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Qiagen Stock Performance

Shares of QGEN stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $39.70. The stock had a trading volume of 348,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,232,559. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 3.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a PE ratio of 110.55, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $42.20 and its 200 day moving average is $42.70. Qiagen has a twelve month low of $37.63 and a twelve month high of $49.30.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Qiagen will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of QGEN. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 8.0% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Qiagen by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 69,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,150,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 6.0% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Qiagen by 62.6% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,574,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,329,000 after acquiring an additional 991,325 shares during the period. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc purchased a new position in Qiagen during the third quarter worth about $8,236,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $52.50 price objective (up from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.67 price objective (down from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Baird R W cut shares of Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Robert W. Baird lowered Qiagen from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $52.00 to $42.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.71.

Qiagen Company Profile

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.