Sona Asset Management US LLC Makes New $8.89 Million Investment in Qiagen N.V. $QGEN

Sona Asset Management US LLC purchased a new position in shares of Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 222,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,891,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of QGEN. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Qiagen in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Qiagen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in Qiagen by 279.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Qiagen by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in shares of Qiagen in the third quarter worth $64,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Qiagen Price Performance

Shares of NYSE QGEN opened at $41.38 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 2.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.09. Qiagen N.V. has a 12 month low of $32.53 and a 12 month high of $57.81.

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

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 7th. This is a positive change from Qiagen’s previous annual dividend of $0.26. This represents a yield of 90.0%. Qiagen’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Qiagen and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Qiagen from $60.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Qiagen from an “overweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Berenberg Bank set a $45.50 price target on Qiagen and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets set a $38.60 price target on Qiagen and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.34.

Qiagen 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.