QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on QDEL. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup upgraded 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 note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, QuidelOrtho currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

QuidelOrtho Stock Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ QDEL opened at $42.89 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $43.17 and its 200-day moving average is $42.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. QuidelOrtho has a one year low of $29.74 and a one year high of $69.83.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analyst estimates of $642.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total transaction of $291,667,061.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser bought 6,033 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $41.42 per share, for a total transaction of $249,886.86. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $249,886.86. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,320,000. Rubric Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 15.2% in the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $191,520,000 after purchasing an additional 554,410 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the third quarter valued at approximately $19,565,000. Beaconlight Capital LLC bought a new stake in QuidelOrtho during the third quarter valued at approximately $18,152,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in QuidelOrtho by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,907,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000,000 after buying an additional 275,522 shares in the last quarter. 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.