Traders Purchase Large Volume of Qiagen Call Options (NYSE:QGEN)

Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 40,639 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 4,664% compared to the typical volume of 853 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on QGEN. Barclays set a $58.00 target price on Qiagen and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Qiagen from $55.40 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Qiagen from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.27.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qiagen

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in QGEN. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Qiagen by 279.9% in 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 during the period. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the fourth quarter worth $153,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its position in shares of Qiagen by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $747,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the period. North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the fourth quarter valued at about $340,000. Finally, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension acquired a new position in shares of Qiagen in the fourth quarter valued at about $22,958,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Qiagen News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Qiagen this week:

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target to $60 and set an “overweight” rating, signaling ~17.5% upside from current levels. This analyst upgrade is a near-term bullish catalyst. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually large options activity: traders bought ~40,639 call options (a ~4,600% increase vs. average), suggesting some investors are positioning for upside. (no article link provided)
• Positive Sentiment: Management reiterated a sales-growth target (at least ~5% sales growth for 2026), which supports topline momentum assumptions even as profitability is pressured. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup trimmed its target slightly to $55 and moved to “neutral” — a modest calibration rather than a stark downgrade; this tempers but does not reverse bullish signals. Article Title Ticker Report
• Neutral Sentiment: Q4 results: EPS roughly in line ($0.62, vs. $0.61 consensus) and revenue modestly beat — evidence of steady demand but not a breakout. Zacks Earnings Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Full earnings materials and call transcript are available for deeper read‑throughs (slides, call transcript) — useful for investors assessing guidance drivers and margin details. Press Release Earnings Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance disappointed: Q1 EPS guidance (~$0.54) and FY‑2026 EPS (≈$2.50) were below Street consensus, which pressured sentiment as investors focus on margin recovery and near‑term profitability. Press Release
• Negative Sentiment: Margin contraction noted in coverage: analysts and news pieces flagged margin pressure and cautious tone on 2026, which was a primary reason the stock sold off despite the top‑line beat. Zacks Margin Article

Qiagen Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Qiagen stock opened at $51.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.67. Qiagen has a 1 year low of $39.61 and a 1 year high of $57.81. The company has a market capitalization of $10.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.67.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $540.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $528.53 million. Qiagen had a net margin of 20.33% and a return on equity of 14.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. Qiagen has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.500- EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.540- EPS. Research analysts forecast that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

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.