Baird R W Downgrades Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) to Hold

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) was downgraded by stock analysts at Baird R W from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

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

Qiagen Price Performance

Shares of QGEN stock opened at $38.56 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 3.09. Qiagen has a one year low of $38.49 and a one year high of $49.30. The firm has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.36.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Qiagen during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Qiagen by 41.5% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Qiagen by 152.5% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Qiagen during the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Qiagen by 148.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. 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.