Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Shares Sold by Axa S.A.

Axa S.A. cut its stake in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) by 10.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 109,427 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,131 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Qiagen were worth $4,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nuance Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Qiagen by 311.0% during the 1st quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 4,493,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,175,000 after purchasing an additional 3,400,255 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Qiagen by 104,759.6% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,583,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581,870 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Qiagen by 85.1% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,427,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,353,000 after acquiring an additional 1,576,259 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Qiagen by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,271,828 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,463,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217,712 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Qiagen by 148.8% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,184,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,684,000 after acquiring an additional 708,533 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Qiagen from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Qiagen from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Qiagen from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.25.

Qiagen Stock Performance

Shares of QGEN opened at $45.24 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a PE ratio of 30.34, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.39. Qiagen has a 1 year low of $34.74 and a 1 year high of $47.44.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $496.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $495.45 million. Qiagen had a return on equity of 12.92% and a net margin of 3.75%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.