Bank of Italy Buys 196,756 Shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)

Bank of Italy increased its stake in shares of Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) by 30.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 847,881 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 196,756 shares during the period. Qiagen makes up approximately 1.2% of Bank of Italy’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Bank of Italy owned about 0.38% of Qiagen worth $36,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Qiagen by 81.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,054,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $245,299,000 after purchasing an additional 2,709,030 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Qiagen by 33,220.7% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,345,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341,450 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Qiagen by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 22,257,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $901,412,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072,923 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Qiagen by 40.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,131,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,838,000 after purchasing an additional 328,291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Qiagen by 178.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 503,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,405,000 after purchasing an additional 322,607 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qiagen Stock Performance

QGEN traded down $0.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $42.69. 1,202,042 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,228,031. The stock has a market cap of $9.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.71, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $42.56 and a 200 day moving average of $42.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Qiagen has a 52 week low of $34.74 and a 52 week high of $47.70.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.02. Qiagen had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 17.38%. The firm had revenue of $459.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $453.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Qiagen will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on QGEN shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Qiagen from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $49.48 to $51.00 in a report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Qiagen from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Qiagen from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Qiagen from $61.86 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Qiagen presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.95.

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.