Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Shares Acquired by Earnest Partners LLC

Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,807,284 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 379,679 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 1.67% of Qiagen worth $156,441,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in QGEN. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Qiagen by 45.1% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,903 shares of the company's stock worth $517,000 after buying an additional 3,698 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its position in Qiagen by 1,423.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 323,625 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,055,000 after purchasing an additional 302,387 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Qiagen by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 211,698 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Qiagen by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 33,661 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,462,000 after buying an additional 5,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 53,531 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,330,000 after buying an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QGEN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Qiagen from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Qiagen from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Qiagen from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qiagen has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $51.10.

Qiagen Stock Performance

Shares of Qiagen stock traded up $0.91 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $45.02. 836,736 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,190,465. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business has a 50-day moving average of $45.13 and a 200-day moving average of $43.49. Qiagen has a 1 year low of $34.74 and a 1 year high of $47.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.39.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03. Qiagen had a return on equity of 12.92% and a net margin of 3.75%. The company had revenue of $496.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $495.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Qiagen will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.