GAMMA Investing LLC Buys 116,643 Shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) by 7,684.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 118,161 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 116,643 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC owned about 0.05% of Qiagen worth $4,744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Qiagen Stock Performance

Shares of QGEN traded down $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $47.08. 1,064,958 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,185,520. The stock has a market cap of $10.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.19. Qiagen has a 1 year low of $37.63 and a 1 year high of $49.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a current ratio of 3.61.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on QGEN shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Qiagen from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Baird R W downgraded Qiagen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Seven research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $48.42.

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.