QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) CEO Brian J. Blaser Purchases 6,033 Shares

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) CEO Brian J. Blaser bought 6,033 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $41.42 per share, for a total transaction of $249,886.86. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $249,886.86. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QDEL opened at $41.35 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a PE ratio of -1.48 and a beta of 0.11. QuidelOrtho Co. has a fifty-two week low of $29.74 and a fifty-two week high of $75.86.

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 the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $727.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $642.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of QDEL. Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 15.2% in the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,520,000 after buying an additional 554,410 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 16.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,907,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000,000 after buying an additional 275,522 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 27.5% during the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 1,728,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,434,000 after acquiring an additional 372,662 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,256,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,290,000 after acquiring an additional 274,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on QDEL. UBS Group began coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 target price on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup raised shares of QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, QuidelOrtho presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.43.

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.