Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Position in Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,658 shares of the company’s stock after selling 851 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Qiagen were worth $428,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of QGEN. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Qiagen by 221.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 184,966 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,237,000 after purchasing an additional 127,453 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in Qiagen by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 9,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Qiagen by 42.4% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 3,761 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Qiagen by 308.5% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 55,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,472,000 after purchasing an additional 41,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Qiagen by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 10,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,284 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Qiagen from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Qiagen from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Redburn Atlantic cut Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Barclays assumed coverage on Qiagen in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.40.

Qiagen Stock Up 0.2%

Qiagen stock opened at $48.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 3.37 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.23, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.68. Qiagen N.V. has a 1-year low of $37.63 and a 1-year high of $49.30. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $45.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.98.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $483.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $465.66 million. Qiagen had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 4.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 2nd. This represents a yield of 0.52%. Qiagen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.50%.

Qiagen Profile

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.