Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Shares Gap Up to $44.94

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN – Get Rating)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $44.94, but opened at $46.32. Qiagen shares last traded at $46.13, with a volume of 148,682 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on QGEN. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Qiagen from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Qiagen from $52.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, May 5th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Qiagen from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qiagen currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.87.

Qiagen Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $45.55 and its 200 day moving average is $47.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.57, a P/E/G ratio of 8.23 and a beta of 0.39.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $485.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $478.23 million. Qiagen had a net margin of 17.66% and a return on equity of 14.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Qiagen will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Qiagen

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in Qiagen by 23.1% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Qiagen by 41.6% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 834 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. grew its position in Qiagen by 4.4% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 6,988 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in Qiagen by 4.9% in the first quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 6,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $327,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Partners II LLC grew its position in Qiagen by 7.7% in the first quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 5,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. 58.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Qiagen

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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.