QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $43.00 to $45.00. The stock had previously closed at $39.94, but opened at $43.80. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. QuidelOrtho shares last traded at $41.52, with a volume of 324,626 shares trading hands.

QDEL has been the topic of a number of other reports. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup raised QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on QuidelOrtho in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total value of $291,667,061.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser bought 6,033 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $41.42 per share, with a total value of $249,886.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,033 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of QuidelOrtho

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,238,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $500,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840,667 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 71.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,447,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,293 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,171,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,817,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,716,000 after buying an additional 764,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,320,000. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a PE ratio of -1.45 and a beta of 0.08.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.44). QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 66.25% and a positive return on equity of 4.24%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

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.