QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $53.43.

QDEL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling at QuidelOrtho

In other QuidelOrtho news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total transaction of $291,667,061.73. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 6,033 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were bought 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. 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 4th quarter worth approximately $74,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 344.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 1,546 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 122.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 1,895 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Stock Down 4.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:QDEL opened at $43.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.56 and a beta of 0.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. QuidelOrtho has a 12-month low of $29.74 and a 12-month high of $71.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.86.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $727.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 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 EPS. Analysts predict that QuidelOrtho will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

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.