Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)’s share price gapped up before the market opened 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 traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QGEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Baird R W cut Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued 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. 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 research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.67 price objective (down previously from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.71.

Qiagen Stock Down 5.3 %

The company has a quick ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 3.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.98. 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 (NYSE:QGEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.01. Qiagen had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 13.92%. Analysts forecast that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Qiagen by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,621,000 after purchasing an additional 1,844 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Qiagen by 55.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 14,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $656,000 after buying an additional 5,152 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Qiagen by 16.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,238,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,895,000 after buying an additional 177,169 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the third quarter worth about $1,169,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Qiagen by 31.2% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 78,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,562,000 after acquiring an additional 18,716 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Qiagen Company Profile

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.