QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Hits New 12-Month Low Following Insider Selling

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)’s share price hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $32.47 and last traded at $33.03, with a volume of 85424 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.90.

Specifically, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 64,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.23, for a total value of $2,585,300.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,395,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $498,687,861.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 432,806 shares of company stock valued at $15,679,205 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on QDEL. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $42.00 target price (down from $70.00) on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Monday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $81.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.00.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.28 and a beta of 0.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.06). QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 3.96% and a negative net margin of 61.65%. The firm had revenue of $711.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $697.33 million. Analysts expect that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of QuidelOrtho

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 12,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $581,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 14,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $681,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 5,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 43,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,075,000 after buying an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.