QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $53.43.

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

Insider Activity at QuidelOrtho

In other QuidelOrtho news, CEO Brian J. Blaser bought 6,033 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $41.42 per share, with a total value of $249,886.86. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $249,886.86. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total value of $291,667,061.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of QuidelOrtho

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in QDEL. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 344.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 73.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,308 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 122.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,895 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

NASDAQ QDEL opened at $44.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.59 and a beta of 0.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.44 and a 200 day moving average of $41.50. QuidelOrtho has a one year low of $29.74 and a one year high of $71.57.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 positive return on equity of 4.24% and a negative net margin of 66.25%. The business 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 posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho will post 1.73 EPS 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.