Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 308,206 Shares of Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC has reduced its holdings in Qiagen N.V. by 28.4%, selling over 308,000 shares during the first quarter, bringing their total ownership to approximately 775,303 shares valued at $31.1 million.
• Despite Natixis's decrease, other institutional investors such as Vanguard Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG have increased their stakes in Qiagen, which is now held by hedge funds and institutional investors at a rate of 70%.
• Qiagen recently announced a $0.25 dividend, resulting in a yield of 52.0%, with a current dividend payout ratio of 62.5%.

Natixis Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) by 28.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 775,303 shares of the company's stock after selling 308,206 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.35% of Qiagen worth $31,128,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $95,746,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 138.1% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,428,940 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,701,000 after acquiring an additional 828,688 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Qiagen by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,851,510 shares of the company's stock valued at $126,978,000 after purchasing an additional 573,269 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in Qiagen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $23,584,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Qiagen in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $13,463,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

QGEN has been the topic of several research reports. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Qiagen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Qiagen from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $49.40.

Qiagen Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:QGEN traded up $0.56 during trading on Friday, hitting $49.90. 1,431,518 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,479,522. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $47.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.43. The firm has a market cap of $11.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 125.11, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.64. Qiagen N.V. has a 1-year low of $37.63 and a 1-year high of $51.88. The company has a current ratio of 3.37, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $483.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $465.66 million. Qiagen had a net margin of 4.68% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Qiagen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 52.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 2nd. Qiagen's dividend payout ratio is 62.50%.

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.