Cerity Partners LLC Buys Shares of 13,266 QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 13,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $605,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the third quarter worth $25,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 907.3% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 826 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 744 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 27.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the second quarter valued at about $102,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its position in QuidelOrtho by 17,095.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 3,419 shares in the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other QuidelOrtho news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

Shares of QDEL stock opened at $38.20 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.11. QuidelOrtho Co. has a one year low of $29.74 and a one year high of $75.86. The stock has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.37 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on QDEL. UBS Group started coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Craig Hallum raised QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Friday, August 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.