Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) saw unusually-high trading volume on Tuesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. Approximately 499,306 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 50% from the previous session’s volume of 996,661 shares.The stock last traded at $37.11 and had previously closed at $35.55.

The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $476.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $469.79 million. Qiagen had a net margin of 17.04% and a return on equity of 13.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QGEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. HSBC reduced their price objective on shares of Qiagen from $64.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Friday, September 29th. TheStreet lowered shares of Qiagen from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, September 14th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Qiagen in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of Qiagen in a report on Monday, September 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Qiagen in a report on Tuesday, September 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.27.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of QGEN. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Qiagen by 20.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 23,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 9.0% during the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new position in shares of Qiagen during the second quarter valued at about $15,812,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new position in Qiagen in the 1st quarter worth approximately $16,512,000. Finally, Pitcairn Co. increased its holdings in Qiagen by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 6,988 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. 57.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Qiagen Trading Up 5.3 %

The company’s fifty day moving average is $40.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.36. The company has a market cap of $8.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.40.

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.