Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Short Interest Update

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,720,000 shares, a growth of 40.4% from the February 28th total of 2,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,140,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QGEN. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Qiagen during the 4th quarter valued at $202,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Qiagen during the 4th quarter valued at about $95,746,000. Forum Financial Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $221,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $216,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Qiagen by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 492,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,922,000 after buying an additional 30,989 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on QGEN. Baird R W lowered Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Qiagen from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $42.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $52.50 target price (up previously from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.67 price objective (down from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.71.

Qiagen Price Performance

NYSE:QGEN traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $39.86. 868,833 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,080,815. The firm has a market cap of $8.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 111.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 3.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.12. Qiagen has a 52 week low of $37.63 and a 52 week high of $49.30.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.01. Qiagen had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 13.92%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Qiagen will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Qiagen

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.