Two Sigma Investments LP Lowers Stock Position in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)

Two Sigma Investments LP reduced its stake in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) by 24.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 940,394 shares of the company's stock after selling 298,001 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP owned approximately 0.42% of Qiagen worth $41,876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of QGEN. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Qiagen by 170.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,849,004 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165,594 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 34.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 16,409 shares of the company's stock worth $731,000 after buying an additional 4,225 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,908 shares of the company's stock worth $397,000 after buying an additional 2,166 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 83.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,565 shares of the company's stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the 4th quarter worth about $241,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on QGEN. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Qiagen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Qiagen from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qiagen has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $48.42.

Qiagen Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE:QGEN traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $42.07. 1,205,875 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,150,013. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.14, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.67. Qiagen has a 52 week low of $37.63 and a 52 week high of $49.30. The firm's 50 day moving average is $41.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.82. The company has a quick ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 3.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (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 4.23% and a return on equity of 13.92%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Qiagen 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.