QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) Receives $53.43 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment 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. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $53.43.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total value of $291,667,061.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 6,033 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $41.42 per share, for a total transaction of $249,886.86. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $249,886.86. This represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rubric Capital Management LP increased its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $191,520,000 after acquiring an additional 554,410 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,907,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000,000 after acquiring an additional 275,522 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 1,728,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,434,000 after purchasing an additional 372,662 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,256,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,290,000 after purchasing an additional 274,633 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 920,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,996,000 after purchasing an additional 16,059 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Trading Up 2.0 %

QDEL opened at $45.12 on Friday. QuidelOrtho has a fifty-two week low of $29.74 and a fifty-two week high of $71.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.62 and a beta of 0.08. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $42.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.67.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.55. QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 66.25% and a positive return on equity of 4.24%. The firm had revenue of $727.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $642.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that QuidelOrtho will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

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.