Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Stake Trimmed by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its stake in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) by 97.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,799 shares of the company's stock after selling 357,691 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in Qiagen were worth $392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new position in Qiagen in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Qiagen by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 856 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Qiagen by 152.5% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 871 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Qiagen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 148.0% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QGEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group decreased their price objective on 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 Qiagen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Qiagen from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $48.42.

Qiagen Stock Performance

Shares of Qiagen stock traded up $0.91 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $42.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 560,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,145,050. 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 has a one year low of $37.63 and a one year high of $49.30. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $40.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.78. The stock has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.67.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Qiagen had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 4.23%. The company had revenue of $483.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $465.66 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.44 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Company 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.