Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)

Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 20,658 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,182% compared to the average volume of 1,611 call options.

Qiagen Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:QGEN traded up $1.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $48.53. 812,064 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,752,823. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 3.31 and a current ratio of 3.90. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.40. Qiagen has a 52 week low of $39.61 and a 52 week high of $57.81. The company has a market cap of $10.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.67.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $540.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $528.53 million. Qiagen had a return on equity of 14.56% and a net margin of 20.33%.The company’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Qiagen

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in QGEN. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Qiagen by 1,383.3% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Qiagen in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. MAI Capital Management grew its position in Qiagen by 998.9% during the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 978 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Qiagen by 260.1% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 796 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QGEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 price objective on Qiagen and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Robert W. Baird set a $53.00 price objective on Qiagen in a report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Qiagen from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.20.

Qiagen Company Profile

Qiagen NV (NYSE: QGEN) is a global provider of sample and assay technologies designed to enable molecular testing in the fields of molecular diagnostics, applied testing, academic research and pharmaceutical development. The company’s solutions span the full workflow of nucleic acid and protein analysis, offering customers standardized kits, instruments and software tools that streamline the preparation, detection and quantification of DNA, RNA and proteins.

The company’s product portfolio includes nucleic acid extraction and purification systems, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reagents and instrumentation, digital PCR platforms, next-generation sequencing (NGS) library‐preparation kits and proteomics solutions.