Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Short Interest Up 17.4% in September

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,500,000 shares, an increase of 17.4% from the August 31st total of 2,980,000 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,220,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Qiagen Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE QGEN traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $45.25. 53,759 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,188,568. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.33 billion, a PE ratio of 30.34, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Qiagen has a 12 month low of $34.74 and a 12 month high of $47.44. The company has a 50 day moving average of $45.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.48.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $496.00 million for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Qiagen will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Qiagen by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $883,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Qiagen by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 53,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,330,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares during the period. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Qiagen during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank bought a new position in shares of Qiagen during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.