Robert W. Baird Issues Positive Forecast for Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Stock Price

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at Robert W. Baird from $42.00 to $43.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "neutral" rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird's target price would suggest a potential upside of 2.14% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also commented on QGEN. UBS Group lowered their price target on Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Baird R W lowered shares of Qiagen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $46.67 price objective (down from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $47.83.

Qiagen Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of QGEN traded down $0.96 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $42.10. The stock had a trading volume of 896,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,141,329. The company has a market capitalization of $9.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.72. 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 has a 12 month low of $37.63 and a 12 month high of $49.30.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qiagen

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of QGEN. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in shares of Qiagen by 8,074.0% during the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 31,817,740 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,416,844,000 after buying an additional 32,216,761 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Qiagen by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 25,319,332 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,127,470,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202,040 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Qiagen by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,782,305 shares of the company's stock worth $970,534,000 after purchasing an additional 531,362 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Qiagen by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,879,089 shares of the company's stock worth $397,937,000 after purchasing an additional 77,119 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Qiagen in the fourth quarter worth about $181,529,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

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.