American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 5.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 378,271 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,799 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.56% of QuidelOrtho worth $12,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 230.6% in the 4th quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 980,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,231,000 after buying an additional 683,637 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,968,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 144.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 908,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,961,000 after purchasing an additional 536,492 shares during the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho during the 4th quarter valued at $37,144,000. Finally, Private Management Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 132.0% in the 1st quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 457,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,949,000 after purchasing an additional 260,508 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Trading Down 1.8 %

QuidelOrtho stock opened at $45.40 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $41.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.24. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.72 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 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $613.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at QuidelOrtho

In other news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 73,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.34, for a total transaction of $2,531,304.42. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,766,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $404,045,195.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,902,466 shares of company stock worth $69,552,560. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Craig Hallum upgraded QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $40.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, QuidelOrtho presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.83.

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.