Moody National Bank Trust Division Purchases 21,147 Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 126.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,868 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,147 shares during the quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division owned approximately 0.06% of QuidelOrtho worth $1,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in QDEL. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $722,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 8.8% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 1,212 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 17,095.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,439 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 3,419 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 43,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,446,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 378,271 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,566,000 after acquiring an additional 18,799 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on QDEL shares. 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 target price for the company. UBS Group started coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup upgraded QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

QuidelOrtho Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ QDEL opened at $44.61 on Tuesday. QuidelOrtho Co. has a fifty-two week low of $29.74 and a fifty-two week high of $74.04. 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 company has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.60 and a beta of 0.08. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $42.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.93.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $727.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $642.16 million. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 4.24% and a negative net margin of 66.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other QuidelOrtho news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 6,033 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,886.86. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% 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.