QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Hits New 52-Week Low on Insider Selling

Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $36.00 and last traded at $36.47, with a volume of 153436 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $37.32.

Specifically, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 64,263 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.23, for a total transaction of $2,585,300.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,395,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $498,687,861.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on QDEL. UBS Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $42.00 price target (down from $70.00) on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Monday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of QuidelOrtho from $81.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.00.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a PE ratio of -1.38 and a beta of 0.13. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.04.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.06). QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 61.65% and a positive return on equity of 3.96%. The company had revenue of $711.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $697.33 million. On average, research analysts predict that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,879,143 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,906,000 after purchasing an additional 37,733 shares in the last quarter. Senvest Management LLC increased its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 3,330,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,244,000 after purchasing an additional 235,000 shares in the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 230.6% during the 4th quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 980,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,231,000 after purchasing an additional 683,637 shares in the last quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. increased its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 69.9% during the 4th quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. now owns 954,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,344,000 after purchasing an additional 392,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 144.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 908,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,961,000 after purchasing an additional 536,492 shares in the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.