Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Hits New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $39.08 and last traded at $39.12, with a volume of 84973 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $40.01.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on QGEN. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $46.67 price objective (down previously from $48.61) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $52.50 price target (up previously from $40.83) on shares of Qiagen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird lowered Qiagen from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Qiagen from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Qiagen currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.71.

Qiagen Stock Down 2.1 %

The company has a market cap of $8.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 3.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $43.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.16.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.01. Qiagen had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 4.23%. Sell-side analysts predict that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qiagen

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of QGEN. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Qiagen by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in Qiagen by 12.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 40,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,849,000 after buying an additional 4,561 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Qiagen by 6.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $383,000 after buying an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Qiagen by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $848,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Qiagen by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by 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.