Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) Short Interest Update

Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of May. As of May 29th, there was short interest totaling 5,751,359 shares, a drop of 36.7% from the May 14th total of 9,080,139 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,066,694 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qiagen

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in Qiagen in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 1,383.3% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Qiagen Price Performance

NYSE:QGEN opened at $37.07 on Monday. Qiagen has a 52 week low of $32.53 and a 52 week high of $57.81. The firm has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.99. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. Qiagen had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 14.40%. The business had revenue of $492.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $496.15 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Qiagen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. 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 13.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on QGEN. Barclays set a $38.00 price target on shares of Qiagen and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Qiagen from $60.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (down from $46.00) on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Qiagen from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qiagen has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.98.

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.