Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Stake Lowered by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. decreased its stake in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) by 21.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,924 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,317 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Qiagen were worth $214,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its position in Qiagen by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 25,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 1,646 shares during the last quarter. Sivik Global Healthcare LLC bought a new position in Qiagen in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,389,000. Sector Gamma AS increased its position in Qiagen by 89.2% in the 4th quarter. Sector Gamma AS now owns 190,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,275,000 after acquiring an additional 89,826 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Qiagen by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,308,304 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,820,000 after acquiring an additional 176,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Duality Advisers LP boosted its position in Qiagen by 183.4% during the 4th quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 56,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,434,000 after acquiring an additional 36,261 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Qiagen Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE QGEN opened at $42.95 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Qiagen has a 12 month low of $34.74 and a 12 month high of $47.70. The company has a market cap of $9.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.83.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.02. Qiagen had a return on equity of 12.59% and a net margin of 17.38%. The firm had revenue of $459.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $453.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Qiagen from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $49.48 to $51.00 in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Qiagen from $61.86 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Qiagen from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Qiagen from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.95.

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.