HighTower Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,131 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,602 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Qiagen were worth $1,010,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Qiagen by 104,759.6% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,583,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,061,000 after buying an additional 1,581,870 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Qiagen by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 5,271,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $216,606,000 after acquiring an additional 778,005 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 148.8% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,184,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,684,000 after acquiring an additional 708,533 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Qiagen by 11.1% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,807,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,441,000 after purchasing an additional 379,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in Qiagen by 12.2% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 3,248,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,292,000 after purchasing an additional 353,280 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Qiagen Trading Down 0.1 %

Qiagen stock opened at $45.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $43.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.74. Qiagen has a 52 week low of $39.03 and a 52 week high of $47.44. The stock has a market cap of $10.35 billion, a PE ratio of 116.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on QGEN. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Qiagen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. HSBC lowered shares of Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Qiagen to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.15.

Qiagen Profile

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.