Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Takes Position in Qiagen N.V. $QGEN

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 17,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $709,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Qiagen in the 1st quarter worth $3,878,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in shares of Qiagen by 1,544.8% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 6,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 5,793 shares in the last quarter. MidFirst Bank bought a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $154,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Qiagen by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD Mission Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the fourth quarter worth about $494,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Qiagen Stock Performance

QGEN opened at $40.08 on Friday. Qiagen N.V. has a 52-week low of $32.53 and a 52-week high of $57.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.89.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The company had revenue of $492.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $496.15 million. Qiagen had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 14.40%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Qiagen N.V. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 7th. This represents a yield of 104.0%. This is an increase from Qiagen’s previous annual dividend of $0.26. Qiagen’s payout ratio is presently 13.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Qiagen from $60.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Qiagen from an “overweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 target price (down from $46.00) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $43.00 price target on Qiagen and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.15.

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.