Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Stock Price Expected to Rise, UBS Group Analyst Says

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) had its target price upped by analysts at UBS Group from $48.00 to $50.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. UBS Group‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 0.16% from the stock’s previous close.

QGEN has been the topic of several other reports. DZ Bank lowered Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Barclays lowered Qiagen from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 target price (up from $45.00) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Qiagen from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, September 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.34.

Qiagen Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:QGEN traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $49.92. 1,642,137 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,745,182. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $46.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Qiagen has a fifty-two week low of $32.53 and a fifty-two week high of $57.81. The firm has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.28, a PEG ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.56.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $547.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.61 million. Qiagen had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 18.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Qiagen will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Qiagen

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Amundi grew its position in Qiagen by 12.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 4,757,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,498,000 after acquiring an additional 524,959 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,183,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,363,000 after purchasing an additional 93,575 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 20.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,665,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,649,000 after purchasing an additional 286,665 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,232,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Qiagen by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 716,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,686,000 after purchasing an additional 124,920 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.