QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $51.20.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on QuidelOrtho from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

Insider Activity

In other QuidelOrtho news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the firm’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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser bought 6,033 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,886.86. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,238,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $500,690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,840,667 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in QuidelOrtho by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,817,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,716,000 after buying an additional 764,900 shares in the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its position in QuidelOrtho by 15.2% during the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $191,520,000 after buying an additional 554,410 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in QuidelOrtho by 71.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,447,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,584,000 after buying an additional 1,439,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC lifted its position in QuidelOrtho by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 1,977,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,106,000 after buying an additional 100,522 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

Shares of QDEL stock opened at $41.49 on Wednesday. QuidelOrtho has a twelve month low of $29.74 and a twelve month high of $49.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.49 and a beta of 0.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.07 by ($0.44). QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 4.24% and a negative net margin of 66.25%. On average, analysts predict that QuidelOrtho will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal 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.