Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) Short Interest Down 20.2% in December

Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) was the target of a large drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 5,451,535 shares, a drop of 20.2% from the December 15th total of 6,832,501 shares. Approximately 2.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,085,090 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.0 days. Based on an average trading volume of 1,085,090 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.0 days. Approximately 2.8% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Qiagen

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in shares of Qiagen by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 11,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $565,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in Qiagen by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $369,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd raised its stake in shares of Qiagen by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 2,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Qiagen by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 6,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Qiagen by 0.4% in the third quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 57,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,563,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup downgraded Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $57.89 to $52.63 in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Qiagen in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $57.89 target price (up previously from $55.79) on shares of Qiagen in a report on Monday, December 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qiagen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.84.

Qiagen Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:QGEN traded down $0.74 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $47.64. The company had a trading volume of 1,957,957 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,197,538. Qiagen has a 1-year low of $39.61 and a 1-year high of $54.61. The stock has a market cap of $10.06 billion, a PE ratio of 24.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $48.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.38.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.03. Qiagen had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 19.58%.The business had revenue of $532.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $525.68 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Qiagen’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Qiagen

Qiagen NV (NYSE: QGEN) is a global provider of sample and assay technologies designed to enable molecular testing in the fields of molecular diagnostics, applied testing, academic research and pharmaceutical development. The company’s solutions span the full workflow of nucleic acid and protein analysis, offering customers standardized kits, instruments and software tools that streamline the preparation, detection and quantification of DNA, RNA and proteins.

The company’s product portfolio includes nucleic acid extraction and purification systems, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reagents and instrumentation, digital PCR platforms, next-generation sequencing (NGS) library‐preparation kits and proteomics solutions.