HSBC Downgrades Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) to Hold

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) was downgraded by research analysts at HSBC from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $49.00 price objective on the stock. HSBC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 13.97% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Qiagen from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Qiagen from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qiagen currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.12.

Qiagen Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:QGEN opened at $43.00 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50-day moving average is $45.10 and its 200 day moving average is $43.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.77. Qiagen has a fifty-two week low of $34.74 and a fifty-two week high of $47.44.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $496.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $495.45 million. Qiagen had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 12.92%. The company’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Qiagen will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Qiagen by 806.5% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 562 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Toronto Dominion Bank bought a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Qiagen during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in shares of Qiagen by 39.8% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 853 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Qiagen Company Profile

QIAGEN N.V. offers sample to insight solutions that transform biological materials into molecular insights worldwide. The company provides primary sample technology consumables, such as nucleic stabilization and purification kits for primary sample materials, manual and automated processing for genotyping, gene expression, and viral and bacterial analysis, as well as silica membranes and magnetic bead technologies; secondary sample technology consumables, including kits and components for purification of nucleic acids from secondary sample materials; and instruments for nucleic acid purification and accessories.