QIAGEN (NYSE:QGEN) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Qiagen has been downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating, indicating a shift in analyst sentiment.
• Despite the downgrade, Qiagen's stock has shown resilience, opening at $51.80 and having a market cap of $11.51 billion.
• The company reported earnings of $0.55 per share for its latest quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations and marking a year-over-year revenue growth of 5.2%.

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of QIAGEN (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on QIAGEN from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded QIAGEN from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Barclays assumed coverage on QIAGEN in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on QIAGEN from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $49.40.

QIAGEN Stock Performance

NYSE:QGEN traded up $0.11 on Friday, hitting $51.09. The stock had a trading volume of 924,369 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,467,153. QIAGEN has a 52-week low of $37.63 and a 52-week high of $51.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 3.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market cap of $11.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 128.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.68. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $46.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.25.

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

QIAGEN Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 2nd. QIAGEN's dividend payout ratio is 62.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QIAGEN

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of QIAGEN in the 4th quarter worth $202,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in shares of QIAGEN by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 66,779 shares of the company's stock worth $2,974,000 after buying an additional 16,106 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of QIAGEN by 93.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,943 shares of the company's stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 1,425 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings 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. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 25,134 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.