Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Stock Price Up 2.2% – Still a Buy?

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)’s share price traded up 2.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $39.31 and last traded at $39.10. 359,589 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 1,093,214 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.26.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QGEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $52.50 target price (up from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Baird R W downgraded Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Qiagen from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.67 price objective (down previously from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.71.

Qiagen Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $40.20 and its 200-day moving average is $41.91. The firm has a market cap of $8.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 112.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 3.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.01. Qiagen had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 4.23%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI increased its position in Qiagen by 5.7% during the third quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 5,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 25,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Qiagen by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 9,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pitcairn Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 6,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Qiagen

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.