Scientech Research LLC Buys New Position in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Scientech Research LLC acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $441,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 23,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,746,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 0.6% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 43,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,446,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its position in QuidelOrtho by 2.5% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 12,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $581,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Balanced Rock Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Balanced Rock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in QuidelOrtho by 27.0% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

QuidelOrtho stock opened at $45.55 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of -1.73 and a beta of 0.08. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 52 week low of $29.74 and a 52 week high of $75.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.15. QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 65.60% and a positive return on equity of 3.87%. The company had revenue of $637.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $613.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QDEL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Friday, August 16th. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 78,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total value of $3,122,509.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,441,022 shares in the company, valued at $337,134,418.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,616,224 shares of company stock valued at $60,053,897. Corporate insiders own 1.00% 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.