QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $53.43.

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other QuidelOrtho news, CEO Brian J. Blaser bought 6,033 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $41.42 per share, with a total value of $249,886.86. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $249,886.86. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the firm’s 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of QDEL. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho during the 4th quarter valued at $74,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 344.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 1,546 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 73.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 1,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 122.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,000 after acquiring an additional 1,895 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

QDEL opened at $43.52 on Friday. QuidelOrtho has a 52-week low of $29.74 and a 52-week high of $71.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of -1.56 and a beta of 0.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.38. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.86.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last released 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $642.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. QuidelOrtho’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that QuidelOrtho will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.