Insider Selling: QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) Major Shareholder Sells 8,260,183 Shares of Stock

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

QDEL traded up $0.41 during trading on Thursday, reaching $37.89. The stock had a trading volume of 1,219,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 982,538. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.34 and a beta of 0.12. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 1-year low of $29.74 and a 1-year high of $75.86.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in QuidelOrtho by 907.3% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 744 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 27.0% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho during the second quarter valued at $102,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its position in QuidelOrtho by 17,095.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,439 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 3,419 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Friday, August 16th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Finally, William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.83.

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.