Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Cut to Neutral at Redburn Atlantic

Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.67 target price (down from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Baird R W lowered Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Qiagen from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $42.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $52.50 price target (up from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.71.

Qiagen Price Performance

Shares of NYSE QGEN opened at $38.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 3.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.50 billion, a PE ratio of 106.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.62. Qiagen has a 1-year low of $37.63 and a 1-year high of $49.30. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $40.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.94.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.01. Qiagen had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 13.92%. On average, research analysts expect that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Qiagen by 41.5% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its position in shares of Qiagen by 5.7% during the third quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 5,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 1.2% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 25,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Qiagen by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 9,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. Finally, Pitcairn Co. increased its stake in Qiagen by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 6,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

About Qiagen

QIAGEN NV is a holding company, which engages in the provision of Sample to Insight solutions that enable customers to gain valuable molecular insights from samples containing the building blocks of life. The company sample technologies isolate and process DNA, RNA, and proteins from blood, tissue, and other materials.