QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Trading Down 3.8% – Here’s What Happened

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)’s stock price traded down 3.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $43.48 and last traded at $43.96. 48,343 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 95% from the average session volume of 891,628 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.71.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QDEL has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on QuidelOrtho in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Citigroup raised shares of QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.43.

QuidelOrtho Stock Down 5.7 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.74 and a 200 day moving average of $41.86. The company has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.55 and a beta of 0.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $642.16 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Brian J. Blaser acquired 6,033 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $41.42 per share, with a total value of $249,886.86. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,886.86. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total value 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 Trading of QuidelOrtho

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in QDEL. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the third quarter worth $605,000. Leeward Investments LLC MA grew its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 229,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,481,000 after buying an additional 33,588 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in QuidelOrtho by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,256,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,290,000 after purchasing an additional 274,633 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 64.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 272,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,405,000 after purchasing an additional 106,642 shares during the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.