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

Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 40,639 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 4,664% compared to the average volume of 853 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on QGEN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $54.00 in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Qiagen in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $57.89 price target (up from $55.79) on shares of Qiagen in a research report on Monday, December 15th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Qiagen in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Qiagen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.04.

More Qiagen News

Here are the key news stories impacting Qiagen this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat — Qiagen reported Q4 EPS of $0.62 (about $0.01 above consensus) and revenue of $540.4M, topping Street revenue expectations and showing modest year‑over‑year growth; that beat likely supported the intraday uptick. Qiagen Q4 earnings and transcript
• Positive Sentiment: Company guidance on sales growth — Qiagen said it expects at least 5% sales growth in 2026, signaling durable top‑line momentum that investors tend to reward even when near‑term profit guides are conservative. Qiagen guides to at least 5% sales growth in 2026
• Positive Sentiment: New product introduction — Qiagen showcased QIAsprint Connect, a high‑throughput benchtop automation system, expanding its addressable market in lab automation and sample processing. Longer‑term product adoption could support growth. QIAGEN showcases QIAsprint Connect
• Neutral Sentiment: Market materials available — The company posted its press release, slide deck and conference‑call materials (useful for detailed read‑throughs but not new headline news). Press release / slide deck
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary and metric comparisons — Coverage from Zacks and others provides context on how margins, ROE and other metrics compare to estimates and prior year — useful for modeling but not immediate catalysts. Zacks: How key metrics compare
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance disappointed on EPS — Qiagen cut its Q1 and FY 2026 EPS guidance below Street estimates (Q1 ~0.54 vs ~0.60 consensus; FY ~2.50 vs ~2.63), which is a near‑term negative and a risk to sentiment if management does not demonstrate margin leverage. Guidance details

Qiagen Stock Performance

Shares of QGEN stock traded up $0.39 on Thursday, reaching $52.10. The stock had a trading volume of 3,685,804 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,097,021. Qiagen has a 12 month low of $39.61 and a 12 month high of $57.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $49.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.66. The company has a quick ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $540.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $528.53 million. Qiagen had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 19.58%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Qiagen has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.500- EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.540- EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Qiagen will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qiagen

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Qiagen by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 24,205,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,088,538,000 after purchasing an additional 264,921 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Qiagen by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,542,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,871,000 after buying an additional 118,135 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in Qiagen by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 4,290,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,471,000 after acquiring an additional 181,509 shares during the period. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Qiagen during the third quarter worth approximately $179,450,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Qiagen during the second quarter worth approximately $158,728,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.