Short Interest in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Drops By 16.1%

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,650,000 shares, a decline of 16.1% from the February 13th total of 3,160,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,120,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $52.50 price objective (up previously from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Qiagen from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Baird R W lowered shares of Qiagen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.67 price target (down previously from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.71.

Qiagen Price Performance

NYSE QGEN traded down $0.18 on Thursday, hitting $39.47. The stock had a trading volume of 305,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,018,099. Qiagen has a 52-week low of $37.63 and a 52-week high of $49.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a current ratio of 3.61. The company has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.46 and a 200-day moving average of $42.33.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.01. Qiagen had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 13.92%. Equities analysts expect that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qiagen

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of QGEN. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of Qiagen by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Qiagen by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 777,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,414,000 after purchasing an additional 69,448 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Qiagen by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 665,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,065,000 after purchasing an additional 4,830 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the 3rd quarter worth about $253,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its position in shares of Qiagen by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 140,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,418,000 after purchasing an additional 2,310 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Qiagen

QIAGEN NV is a holding company, which engages in the provision of Sample to Insight solutions that enable customers to gain valuable molecular insights from samples containing the building blocks of life. The company sample technologies isolate and process DNA, RNA, and proteins from blood, tissue, and other materials.