Axa S.A. Trims Stock Position in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)

Axa S.A. reduced its stake in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 109,427 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,131 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Qiagen were worth $4,496,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Toronto Dominion Bank purchased a new stake in Qiagen in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in Qiagen in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new stake in Qiagen in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Qiagen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Qiagen by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on QGEN shares. Wolfe Research raised Qiagen from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Qiagen from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Qiagen from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.25.

Qiagen Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:QGEN opened at $45.24 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.77. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $45.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.48. The stock has a market cap of $10.32 billion, a PE ratio of 30.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.39. Qiagen has a one year low of $34.74 and a one year high of $47.44.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.03. Qiagen had a return on equity of 12.92% and a net margin of 3.75%. The business had revenue of $496.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $495.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Qiagen will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Qiagen

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.