Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Shares Sold by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its stake in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 571,813 shares of the company’s stock after selling 74,016 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.26% of Qiagen worth $24,875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in Qiagen by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 9,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio boosted its stake in Qiagen by 14.6% during the third quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 45,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after buying an additional 5,774 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Qiagen by 16.0% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 255,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,361,000 after acquiring an additional 35,297 shares during the period. ING Groep NV raised its position in Qiagen by 28.4% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 257,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,424,000 after acquiring an additional 56,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new stake in Qiagen in the third quarter worth about $253,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on QGEN shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Qiagen from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $49.48 to $51.00 in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Qiagen from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Qiagen from $61.86 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Qiagen from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.95.

Qiagen Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Qiagen stock opened at $42.81 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Qiagen has a 1 year low of $34.74 and a 1 year high of $47.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.71. The company has a market cap of $9.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.42.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $459.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $453.91 million. Qiagen had a net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 12.50%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Qiagen will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.