Swiss National Bank Has $32.01 Million Holdings in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)

Swiss National Bank decreased its position in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 734,061 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,765 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Qiagen were worth $32,008,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 66.1% in the third quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 60,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,456,000 after purchasing an additional 24,144 shares in the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in Qiagen during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,582,000. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in Qiagen by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 9,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV grew its stake in shares of Qiagen by 28.4% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 257,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,424,000 after acquiring an additional 56,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 16.0% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 255,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,361,000 after purchasing an additional 35,297 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qiagen Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:QGEN opened at $42.95 on Wednesday. Qiagen has a 12 month low of $34.74 and a 12 month high of $47.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.83. The stock has a market cap of $9.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.42.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.02. Qiagen had a return on equity of 12.59% and a net margin of 17.38%. The company had revenue of $459.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $453.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on QGEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Qiagen from $61.86 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Qiagen from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Qiagen from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $49.48 to $51.00 in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.95.

Qiagen Profile

QIAGEN N.V. offers sample to insight solutions that transform biological materials into molecular insights worldwide. The company provides primary sample technology consumables, such as nucleic stabilization and purification kits for primary sample materials, manual and automated processing for genotyping, gene expression, and viral and bacterial analysis, as well as silica membranes and magnetic bead technologies; secondary sample technology consumables, including kits and components for purification of nucleic acids from secondary sample materials; and instruments for nucleic acid purification and accessories.