Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Downgraded by Baird R W to Hold

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Baird R W from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

QGEN has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $52.50 target price (up previously from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $46.67 price target (down previously from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Qiagen from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $47.71.

Qiagen Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of QGEN traded up $0.95 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.52. The company had a trading volume of 1,257,210 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,293,913. The stock has a market cap of $8.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.36. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.04. Qiagen has a fifty-two week low of $38.49 and a fifty-two week high of $49.30. The company has a current ratio of 3.61, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.01. Qiagen had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 13.92%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,380,008 shares of the company's stock valued at $108,457,000 after buying an additional 90,181 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,426,392 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,001,000 after buying an additional 68,415 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 129.3% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 20,192 shares of the company's stock valued at $920,000 after buying an additional 11,385 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 19,506 shares of the company's stock valued at $834,000 after buying an additional 3,878 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Qiagen by 36.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,604,034 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,096,000 after purchasing an additional 424,937 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Qiagen

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.