Prudential PLC Sells 49,125 Shares of Qiagen N.V. $QGEN

Prudential PLC cut its position in shares of Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) by 85.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,373 shares of the company’s stock after selling 49,125 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Qiagen were worth $382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Qiagen during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 1,383.3% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 279.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 23.2% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in shares of Qiagen during the third quarter worth about $64,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group set a $52.00 price target on Qiagen in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Citigroup restated a “hold” rating on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Barclays set a $38.00 price target on Qiagen and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Qiagen from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (down from $46.00) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qiagen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.98.

Qiagen Stock Down 1.1%

QGEN stock opened at $36.28 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.31. The company has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.66. Qiagen N.V. has a twelve month low of $32.53 and a twelve month high of $57.81.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The firm had revenue of $492.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $496.15 million. Qiagen had a return on equity of 14.40% and a net margin of 19.16%.During the same period last year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 7th. This is a positive change from Qiagen’s previous annual dividend of $0.26. This represents a dividend yield of 104.0%. Qiagen’s payout ratio is 13.61%.

About Qiagen

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.