SG Americas Securities LLC Has $3.89 Million Position in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 522.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 87,372 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 73,330 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in QuidelOrtho were worth $3,892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 316.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 28,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 21,968 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho during the second quarter worth $217,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 17,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 2,799.8% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 160,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,322,000 after purchasing an additional 154,631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 227.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 143,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,770,000 after acquiring an additional 99,755 shares during the period. 99.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at QuidelOrtho

In other QuidelOrtho news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total transaction of $291,667,061.73. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser bought 6,033 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was bought 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,886.86. This represents a ? increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

QuidelOrtho Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ QDEL opened at $44.24 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $29.74 and a 12 month high of $71.57. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of -1.59 and a beta of 0.08.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $727.00 million for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup raised QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, QuidelOrtho presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

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.