Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Hits New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

Shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $39.08 and last traded at $39.12, with a volume of 84973 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.01.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on QGEN. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $52.50 price objective (up previously from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Baird R W cut Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. 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 note on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird cut Qiagen from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.71.

Qiagen Stock Up 2.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a current ratio of 3.61. The company has a market capitalization of $8.77 billion, a PE ratio of 110.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.36. The company’s fifty day moving average is $43.15 and its 200-day moving average is $43.07.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Qiagen by 11.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Qiagen by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 40,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,849,000 after purchasing an additional 4,561 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Qiagen by 2.8% during the third 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. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 9.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.