QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Trading Down 3.2% – What’s Next?

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) shares fell 3.2% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $43.02 and last traded at $43.19. 52,723 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 93% from the average session volume of 806,820 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.61.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on QDEL. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup upgraded QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, 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 on the stock. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.43.

QuidelOrtho Stock Up 4.0 %

The company has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a PE ratio of -1.50 and a beta of 0.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.38.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.55. The firm had revenue of $727.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $642.16 million. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 4.24% and a negative net margin of 66.25%. QuidelOrtho’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at QuidelOrtho

In related news, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 6,033 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $41.42 per share, with a total value 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the company’s 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in QDEL. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the third quarter valued at $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 73.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 1,308 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 148.4% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 6,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 3,595 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 4,460.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,000 after acquiring an additional 4,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho during the 2nd quarter worth about $217,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Company 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.