Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $40.02, but opened at $41.44. Qiagen shares last traded at $40.31, with a volume of 389,458 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QGEN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Qiagen from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $42.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $52.50 price objective (up from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Baird R W downgraded Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qiagen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.71.

Qiagen Price Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.98. The company has a market capitalization of $8.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a current ratio of 3.61.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in Qiagen by 8,074.0% in the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 31,817,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,416,844,000 after purchasing an additional 32,216,761 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Qiagen by 77.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,250,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $963,386,000 after buying an additional 9,293,040 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Qiagen during the fourth quarter valued at about $181,529,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Qiagen by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 25,319,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,127,470,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the 4th quarter worth about $95,746,000. Institutional investors 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.