Barings LLC Sells 77,747 Shares of Qiagen N.V. $QGEN

Key Points

• Barings LLC reduced its Qiagen stake by 19.1% in the first quarter, selling 77,747 shares and leaving it with 329,512 shares valued at about $13.23 million.
• Qiagen’s latest results were in line with expectations, posting earnings of $0.54 per share on revenue of $492.32 million, while analysts currently forecast full-year EPS of $2.43.
• The company raised its annual dividend to $0.35 from $0.26, though Wall Street’s overall view remains cautious with a consensus rating of “Hold” and a price target of $43.34.

Barings LLC cut its position in shares of Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) by 19.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 329,512 shares of the company's stock after selling 77,747 shares during the quarter. Barings LLC owned about 0.16% of Qiagen worth $13,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Qiagen by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 24,205,881 shares of the company's stock worth $1,088,538,000 after acquiring an additional 264,921 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Qiagen by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,542,944 shares of the company's stock valued at $433,871,000 after purchasing an additional 118,135 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Qiagen by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,429,424 shares of the company's stock worth $379,072,000 after purchasing an additional 906,589 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Qiagen by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,907,801 shares of the company's stock worth $355,614,000 after purchasing an additional 697,342 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Qiagen by 4.4% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 4,290,273 shares of the company's stock worth $201,471,000 after purchasing an additional 181,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Qiagen Stock Performance

Shares of QGEN opened at $41.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $37.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.64. Qiagen N.V. has a 52 week low of $32.53 and a 52 week high of $57.81.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54. The company had revenue of $492.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $496.15 million. Qiagen had a return on equity of 14.40% and a net margin of 19.16%.During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 90.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 7th. This is a positive change from Qiagen's previous annual dividend of $0.26. Qiagen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

QGEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Berenberg Bank set a $45.50 target price on shares of Qiagen and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $36.00 target price on shares of Qiagen and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Qiagen from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $43.00 price target on shares of Qiagen and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Qiagen presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $43.34.

Qiagen Company Profile

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding QGEN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.