Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Shares Sold by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. decreased its holdings in shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) by 21.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,924 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,317 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Qiagen were worth $214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Qiagen by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in shares of Qiagen by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 9,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Qiagen by 9.0% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,000 after buying an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Qiagen by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $803,000 after buying an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in shares of Qiagen by 0.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 103,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,174,000 after buying an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Qiagen Price Performance

Shares of NYSE QGEN opened at $42.95 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $42.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.83. Qiagen has a 1 year low of $34.74 and a 1 year high of $47.70.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on QGEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on 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 objective on Qiagen from $61.86 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price 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 raised Qiagen from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $49.48 to $51.00 in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.95.

Qiagen Company 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.