New York State Teachers Retirement System Increases Stake in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 56,000 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.08% of QuidelOrtho worth $2,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho during the third quarter valued at about $605,000. Leeward Investments LLC MA increased its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 229,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,481,000 after buying an additional 33,588 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 16.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,907,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000,000 after purchasing an additional 275,522 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 28.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,256,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,290,000 after buying an additional 274,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $301,000. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other QuidelOrtho news, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 6,033 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $41.42 per share, for a total transaction of $249,886.86. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,886.86. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. Citigroup raised shares of QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.20.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

NASDAQ:QDEL opened at $40.46 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.34 and a beta of 0.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company’s 50-day moving average is $43.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.37. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 1-year low of $29.74 and a 1-year high of $49.45.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.07 by ($0.44). QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 3.78% and a negative net margin of 72.84%. Analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

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.