Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Qiagen from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Baird R W downgraded shares of Qiagen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qiagen currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $48.42.

Qiagen Stock Down 0.6%

QGEN traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $42.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,210,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,311,191. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.87, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 3.61, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Qiagen has a 1 year low of $37.63 and a 1 year high of $49.30. The stock's 50-day moving average is $40.76 and its 200-day moving average is $41.78.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qiagen

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake in Qiagen by 8,074.0% during the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 31,817,740 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,416,844,000 after acquiring an additional 32,216,761 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Qiagen by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 25,319,332 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,127,470,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202,040 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Qiagen by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,782,305 shares of the company's stock valued at $970,534,000 after acquiring an additional 531,362 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Qiagen by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,879,089 shares of the company's stock valued at $397,937,000 after acquiring an additional 77,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Qiagen by 57.5% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,491,131 shares of the company's stock valued at $180,319,000 after acquiring an additional 1,639,621 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.