Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Sells 63,686 Shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) by 86.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,977 shares of the company's stock after selling 63,686 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Qiagen were worth $441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in Qiagen by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,908 shares of the company's stock valued at $397,000 after buying an additional 2,166 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Qiagen by 34.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 16,409 shares of the company's stock valued at $731,000 after purchasing an additional 4,225 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, 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. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Qiagen Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Qiagen stock traded down $0.08 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $42.72. 911,934 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,145,919. The company has a quick ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 3.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market cap of $9.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.67. Qiagen has a 1 year low of $37.63 and a 1 year high of $49.30. The stock's fifty day moving average is $41.03 and its 200 day moving average is $41.82.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $483.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $465.66 million. Qiagen had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 4.23%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Qiagen will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on QGEN. Baird R W downgraded shares of Qiagen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird upped 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. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $48.42.

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.