Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases 140,091 Shares of Qiagen N.V. $QGEN

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 140,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,148,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.07% of Qiagen at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Qiagen by 1.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 15,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $691,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Qiagen by 20.8% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Qiagen by 46.8% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Qiagen by 2,190.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 916 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in Qiagen by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 42,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,938,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on QGEN. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price target (up from $45.00) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, October 26th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Qiagen in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price target for the company. DZ Bank downgraded Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.09.

Qiagen Trading Down 0.4%

Qiagen stock opened at $50.10 on Friday. Qiagen N.V. has a one year low of $32.53 and a one year high of $57.81. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $46.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 2.31. The company has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.56.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $547.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.61 million. Qiagen had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 18.19%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Company Profile

QIAGEN is a life sciences company that develops technologies used to prepare and analyze biological samples. Its products help researchers and clinicians extract and process DNA, RNA and proteins from samples such as blood, tissue and other biological materials. The company offers laboratory consumables, instruments and software for molecular diagnostics and life sciences research, as well as applications in pharmaceutical research and applied testing. Its portfolio includes sample-preparation kits, molecular testing assays and platforms for PCR, digital PCR and next-generation sequencing.