QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $53.43.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on QDEL shares. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup raised shares of QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

NASDAQ QDEL opened at $46.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.67 and a beta of 0.08. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.36. QuidelOrtho has a 52-week low of $29.74 and a 52-week high of $75.09.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.55. QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 66.25% and a positive return on equity of 4.24%. The company had revenue of $727.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $642.16 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that QuidelOrtho will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total transaction of $291,667,061.73. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 6,033 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $41.42 per share, with a total value of $249,886.86. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,886.86. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in QuidelOrtho by 64.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 272,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,405,000 after buying an additional 106,642 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 920,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,996,000 after acquiring an additional 16,059 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 33.4% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 38,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 9,607 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,907,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000,000 after purchasing an additional 275,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 6.9% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 151,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,887,000 after purchasing an additional 9,793 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

About QuidelOrtho

QuidelOrtho Corporation provides diagnostic testing solutions. The company operates through Labs, Transfusion Medicine, Point-of-Care, and Molecular Diagnostics business units. The Labs business unit provides clinical chemistry laboratory instruments and tests that measure target chemicals in bodily fluids for the evaluation of health and the clinical management of patients; immunoassay laboratory instruments and tests, which measure proteins as they act as antigens in the spread of disease, antibodies in the immune response spurred by disease, or markers of proper organ function and health; testing products to detect and monitor disease progression across a spectrum of therapeutic areas; and specialized diagnostic solutions.