Nuance Investments LLC Boosts Stake in Qiagen N.V. $QGEN

Nuance Investments LLC increased its stake in Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) by 49.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 803,588 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 264,767 shares during the quarter. Qiagen makes up approximately 4.0% of Nuance Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Nuance Investments LLC owned 0.38% of Qiagen worth $36,137,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 24,205,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,088,538,000 after purchasing an additional 264,921 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,542,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $433,871,000 after purchasing an additional 118,135 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 4,290,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $201,471,000 after purchasing an additional 181,509 shares during the period. Boston Partners purchased a new position in Qiagen in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $179,450,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Qiagen in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $166,500,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (down from $46.00) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Qiagen from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $43.00 price target on shares of Qiagen and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Qiagen currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.98.

Qiagen Trading Down 2.3%

Qiagen stock opened at $36.69 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.16, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.66. Qiagen N.V. has a fifty-two week low of $32.53 and a fifty-two week high of $57.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $37.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.21.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.54. Qiagen had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 14.40%. The company had revenue of $492.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $496.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 7th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a yield of 104.0%. This is a boost from Qiagen’s previous annual dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 7th. Qiagen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.61%.

Qiagen Company Profile

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.