Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Short Interest Down 18.0% in January

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,060,000 shares, a decrease of 18.0% from the December 31st total of 3,730,000 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 864,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QGEN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $48.00 price target (down from $50.00) on shares of Qiagen in a report on Monday, January 6th. Hsbc Global Res raised Qiagen to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Qiagen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, HSBC downgraded Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.50.

Institutional Trading of Qiagen

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Qiagen by 77.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,250,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $963,386,000 after acquiring an additional 9,293,040 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in Qiagen by 170.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,849,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165,594 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Qiagen by 62.6% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,574,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,329,000 after purchasing an additional 991,325 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 10,610.4% during the third quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 649,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,606,000 after buying an additional 643,627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 36.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,604,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,096,000 after buying an additional 424,937 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qiagen Stock Performance

Shares of QGEN traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $44.52. The stock had a trading volume of 1,024,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,155,726. Qiagen has a fifty-two week low of $40.15 and a fifty-two week high of $49.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $10.16 billion, a PE ratio of 114.14, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.37. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.37.

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.