Banque Pictet & Cie SA Increases Stock Position in Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA increased its holdings in Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) by 20.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 86,207 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 14,792 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings in Qiagen were worth $3,415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Groupama Asset Managment increased its stake in Qiagen by 8,074.0% in the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 31,817,740 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,416,844,000 after acquiring an additional 32,216,761 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Qiagen by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 25,319,332 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,127,470,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202,040 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Qiagen by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,782,305 shares of the company's stock valued at $970,534,000 after acquiring an additional 531,362 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Qiagen by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,879,089 shares of the company's stock valued at $397,937,000 after acquiring an additional 77,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Qiagen during the fourth quarter valued at about $181,529,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Qiagen Stock Up 1.2%

QGEN traded up $0.60 on Thursday, hitting $48.56. The company had a trading volume of 1,179,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,208,454. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 3.37 and a quick ratio of 2.83. Qiagen N.V. has a 52-week low of $37.63 and a 52-week high of $49.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.68.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. Qiagen had a net margin of 4.68% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company had revenue of $483.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $465.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 2nd. Qiagen's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on QGEN. Bank of America raised their price objective on 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 raised Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Qiagen from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Barclays assumed coverage on Qiagen in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $49.40.

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.