Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 16,059 Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 920,703 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,059 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.37% of QuidelOrtho worth $41,996,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 15.2% in the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,520,000 after purchasing an additional 554,410 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,907,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000,000 after acquiring an additional 275,522 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 27.5% during the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 1,728,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,434,000 after acquiring an additional 372,662 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 274,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,320,000. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on QDEL. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.43.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 6,033 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $41.42 per share, with a total value of $249,886.86. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $249,886.86. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 shares were sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total transaction of $291,667,061.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

Shares of QDEL stock opened at $44.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.60 and a beta of 0.11. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 12 month low of $29.74 and a 12 month high of $75.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.01.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $727.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $642.16 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. QuidelOrtho’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that QuidelOrtho Co. 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.