Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Takes $433,000 Position in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 9,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $433,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Moody National Bank Trust Division lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 126.5% in the fourth quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 37,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,687,000 after acquiring an additional 21,147 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in QuidelOrtho by 64.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 272,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,405,000 after purchasing an additional 106,642 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 16,059 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 33.4% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 38,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 9,607 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 16.9% during the 3rd 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at QuidelOrtho

In related news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total transaction of $291,667,061.73. The transaction 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 that occurred on 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 completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $249,886.86. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QDEL opened at $41.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.99. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 52 week low of $29.74 and a 52 week high of $74.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.47 and a beta of 0.08.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on QDEL shares. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, QuidelOrtho currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.