Short Interest in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Declines By 16.1%

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,650,000 shares, a drop of 16.1% from the February 13th total of 3,160,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Qiagen Price Performance

Qiagen stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $39.70. 1,095,493 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,024,610. The company has a market cap of $8.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.44. 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 twelve month low of $37.63 and a twelve month high of $49.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.27.

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

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Qiagen from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $42.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $46.67 price target (down from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $52.50 price objective (up from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of Qiagen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qiagen has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $47.71.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qiagen

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in Qiagen by 8,074.0% during the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 31,817,740 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,416,844,000 after purchasing an additional 32,216,761 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Qiagen by 77.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,250,943 shares of the company's stock valued at $963,386,000 after acquiring an additional 9,293,040 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Qiagen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $181,529,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,202,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Qiagen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $95,746,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.