Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) Short Interest Update

Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 13th, there was short interest totaling 7,184,231 shares, a growth of 20.0% from the January 29th total of 5,988,425 shares. Approximately 3.7% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,567,910 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Based on an average daily volume of 2,567,910 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Approximately 3.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Qiagen Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:QGEN opened at $47.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.66, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.70. Qiagen has a 12 month low of $39.61 and a 12 month high of $57.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 3.90 and a quick ratio of 3.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $50.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.29.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.01. Qiagen had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 20.33%.The company had revenue of $540.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $528.53 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. Qiagen’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Qiagen will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Qiagen

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of Qiagen by 1,544.8% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 6,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 5,793 shares in the last quarter. MidFirst Bank acquired a new position in Qiagen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $154,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Qiagen by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC bought a new position in Qiagen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $494,000. Finally, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec lifted its stake in Qiagen by 52.5% in the fourth quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 932,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,539,000 after acquiring an additional 320,850 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QGEN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 price target on shares of Qiagen and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Qiagen from $55.40 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 6th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.20.

Qiagen Company Profile

Qiagen NV (NYSE: QGEN) is a global provider of sample and assay technologies designed to enable molecular testing in the fields of molecular diagnostics, applied testing, academic research and pharmaceutical development. The company’s solutions span the full workflow of nucleic acid and protein analysis, offering customers standardized kits, instruments and software tools that streamline the preparation, detection and quantification of DNA, RNA and proteins.

The company’s product portfolio includes nucleic acid extraction and purification systems, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reagents and instrumentation, digital PCR platforms, next-generation sequencing (NGS) library‐preparation kits and proteomics solutions.