Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Trims Stake in Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its stake in Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) by 19.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,153 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,465 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Qiagen were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Qiagen by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 17,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $716,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Qiagen by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 17,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $768,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the period. Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in Qiagen by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 1,004 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Qiagen by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 11,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $505,000 after buying an additional 1,418 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Qiagen by 93.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 1,425 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Qiagen Stock Up 0.8%

QGEN opened at $49.36 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.71. Qiagen N.V. has a 52 week low of $37.63 and a 52 week high of $51.88. The company has a market capitalization of $10.97 billion, a PE ratio of 29.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60. Qiagen had a net margin of 18.30% and a return on equity of 14.77%. The firm had revenue of $533.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $523.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 2nd. This represents a dividend yield of 52.0%. Qiagen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on QGEN shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Qiagen from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Qiagen in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Qiagen from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Qiagen in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Qiagen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.69.

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.