Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) by 86.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,977 shares of the company's stock after selling 63,686 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Qiagen were worth $441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in shares of Qiagen by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 66,779 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,974,000 after purchasing an additional 16,106 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Qiagen by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 17,240 shares of the company's stock worth $768,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Qiagen by 66.3% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 63,026 shares of the company's stock worth $2,807,000 after purchasing an additional 25,134 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 11,297 shares of the company's stock worth $505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,418 shares during the period. Finally, Perbak Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,517,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qiagen Stock Up 1.0%

QGEN stock traded up $0.46 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $45.74. The stock had a trading volume of 1,013,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,171,526. The company has a quick ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 3.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market capitalization of $10.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.67. Qiagen has a one year low of $37.63 and a one year high of $49.30. The company's 50 day moving average is $42.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.97.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 13.92%. The company had revenue of $483.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $465.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

QGEN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Qiagen from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Redburn Atlantic lowered Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of Qiagen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qiagen currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $48.42.

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.