Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 2,000 Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 13.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,819 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in QuidelOrtho were worth $749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,320,000. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,520,000 after acquiring an additional 554,410 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at about $19,565,000. Beaconlight Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at about $18,152,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,907,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000,000 after acquiring an additional 275,522 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on QDEL. StockNews.com downgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.20.

QuidelOrtho Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ QDEL opened at $39.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.32 and a beta of 0.08. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.36. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 1 year low of $29.74 and a 1 year high of $49.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.44). QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 3.78% and a negative net margin of 72.84%. Research analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at QuidelOrtho

In related news, CEO Brian J. Blaser bought 6,033 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $41.42 per share, with a total value of $249,886.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $249,886.86. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Profile

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.