Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 33,210 Shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its stake in shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Free Report) by 15.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 185,221 shares of the company's stock after selling 33,210 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.08% of Qiagen worth $7,801,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Qiagen by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 69,122 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,150,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 12,184 shares of the company's stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 3,474 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of Qiagen by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,251 shares of the company's stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Qiagen by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,038 shares of the company's stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 714 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Qiagen by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,618 shares of the company's stock valued at $848,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC lowered shares of Qiagen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $49.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Qiagen from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Qiagen to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qiagen currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $50.88.

Qiagen Stock Performance

NYSE:QGEN traded up $0.07 on Thursday, hitting $43.94. The stock had a trading volume of 1,071,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,169,798. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $44.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.70. The stock has a market cap of $10.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.41. Qiagen has a 52-week low of $37.51 and a 52-week high of $47.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.03. Qiagen had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 12.92%. The firm had revenue of $501.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.53 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Qiagen Company 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.