Short Interest in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) Drops By 18.0%

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,060,000 shares, a decrease of 18.0% from the December 15th total of 3,730,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 864,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qiagen

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Qiagen by 77.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,250,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $963,386,000 after purchasing an additional 9,293,040 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,165,594 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Qiagen by 62.6% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,574,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,329,000 after buying an additional 991,325 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Qiagen by 148.8% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,184,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,684,000 after acquiring an additional 708,533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd lifted its stake in Qiagen by 10,610.4% in the third quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 649,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,606,000 after acquiring an additional 643,627 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Qiagen to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $48.00 price target (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Qiagen in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, HSBC cut 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.50.

Qiagen Trading Up 0.2 %

Qiagen stock traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $46.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,180,187 shares, compared to its average volume of 658,189. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 1.89. Qiagen has a 12-month low of $39.03 and a 12-month high of $47.44. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $44.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.09. The firm has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.37.

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.