Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Shares Bought by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) by 40.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 105,303 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 30,571 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC's holdings in Qiagen were worth $4,689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of QGEN. Perbak Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,517,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Qiagen by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,250,712 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,694,000 after purchasing an additional 285,265 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 96,482 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,322,000 after purchasing an additional 2,832 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Qiagen by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 4,002,489 shares of the company's stock worth $178,231,000 after purchasing an additional 64,575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in Qiagen in the fourth quarter valued at $5,645,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Baird R W cut shares of Qiagen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Qiagen from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $48.42.

Qiagen Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE QGEN traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.87. 1,823,210 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,134,961. The stock has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.59, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.67. Qiagen has a 1 year low of $37.63 and a 1 year high of $49.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.76. The company has a current ratio of 3.61, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Qiagen had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 4.23%. The company had revenue of $483.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $465.66 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. The company's revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Qiagen will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen 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.