Waterfront Wealth Inc. Makes New $1.05 Million Investment in Qiagen N.V. $QGEN

Key Points

• Waterfront Wealth Inc. opened a new position in Qiagen during the first quarter, buying 26,221 shares valued at about $1.05 million.
• Institutional ownership in Qiagen remains high, with several large funds adding stakes or increasing holdings; the article says 70% of the stock is owned by institutions and hedge funds.
• Qiagen reported quarterly EPS of $0.54, matching expectations, and also raised its annual dividend to $0.35 from $0.26, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus “Hold” with an average target price of $43.15.

Waterfront Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 26,221 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,050,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the 3rd quarter worth about $179,450,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Qiagen in the 4th quarter valued at about $166,500,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new position in Qiagen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $58,079,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Qiagen by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,429,424 shares of the company's stock valued at $379,072,000 after acquiring an additional 906,589 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Qiagen by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,907,801 shares of the company's stock valued at $355,614,000 after acquiring an additional 697,342 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qiagen Price Performance

QGEN traded down $0.47 on Friday, hitting $41.52. 3,565,122 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,901,811. Qiagen N.V. has a 12 month low of $32.53 and a 12 month high of $57.81. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 2.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.68, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.64.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.54. The firm had revenue of $492.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $496.15 million. Qiagen had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 14.40%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 7th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a yield of 90.0%. This is a positive change from Qiagen's previous annual dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 7th. Qiagen's payout ratio is 18.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on QGEN shares. Citigroup restated a "hold" rating on shares of Qiagen in a report on Monday, May 18th. Morgan Stanley raised Qiagen from an "overweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Robert W. Baird set a $43.00 price target on Qiagen and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of Qiagen in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Qiagen from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qiagen has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $43.15.

About Qiagen

Qiagen NV NYSE: QGEN is a global provider of sample and assay technologies designed to enable molecular testing in the fields of molecular diagnostics, applied testing, academic research and pharmaceutical development. The company's solutions span the full workflow of nucleic acid and protein analysis, offering customers standardized kits, instruments and software tools that streamline the preparation, detection and quantification of DNA, RNA and proteins.

The company's product portfolio includes nucleic acid extraction and purification systems, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reagents and instrumentation, digital PCR platforms, next-generation sequencing (NGS) library‐preparation kits and proteomics solutions.

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