Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Sees Large Volume Increase

Shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 519,599 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 56% from the previous session’s volume of 1,182,376 shares.The stock last traded at $45.91 and had previously closed at $45.66.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QGEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Qiagen from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Qiagen from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Qiagen from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qiagen currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.10.

Qiagen Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.44. The firm has a market cap of $10.47 billion, a PE ratio of 30.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.39.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $496.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $495.45 million. Qiagen had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 12.92%. The firm’s revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Qiagen will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qiagen

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of QGEN. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in Qiagen in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Toronto Dominion Bank purchased a new position in Qiagen during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in Qiagen during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Qiagen during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Qiagen by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Qiagen Company 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.