Barclays PLC Sells 41,945 Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Barclays PLC lessened its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 59.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 28,257 shares of the company’s stock after selling 41,945 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in QuidelOrtho were worth $1,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its position in QuidelOrtho by 0.6% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 43,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,446,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Balanced Rock Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Balanced Rock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC grew its position in QuidelOrtho by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 46,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,556,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 18,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $848,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Stock Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:QDEL opened at $44.25 on Friday. QuidelOrtho Co. has a twelve month low of $29.74 and a twelve month high of $75.82. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of -1.59 and a beta of 0.11.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.55. The company had revenue of $727.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on QDEL shares. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group started coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Craig Hallum upgraded QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

Insider Activity at QuidelOrtho

In related news, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 6,033 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price 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 approximately $249,886.86. The trade was a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total transaction of $291,667,061.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

QuidelOrtho 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.