QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) Major Shareholder Sells $4,631,632.39 in Stock

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 127,981 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.19, for a total value of $4,631,632.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,123,705 shares in the company, valued at $438,756,883.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Carlyle Group Inc. also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, June 17th, Carlyle Group Inc. sold 99,642 shares of QuidelOrtho stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.99, for a total value of $3,586,115.58.
• On Wednesday, June 12th, Carlyle Group Inc. sold 64,263 shares of QuidelOrtho stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.23, for a total value of $2,585,300.49.

QuidelOrtho Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of QDEL stock opened at $34.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.32 and a beta of 0.13. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.55. QuidelOrtho Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $89.11.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on QDEL. UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective (down from $70.00) on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $81.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of QDEL. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 25.0% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 5,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at $410,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in QuidelOrtho by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 54,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,962,000 after buying an additional 6,017 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in QuidelOrtho by 4,035.8% in the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 451,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,981,000 after buying an additional 440,624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC raised its position in QuidelOrtho by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 8,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $621,000 after buying an additional 797 shares during the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.