QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) Shares Acquired by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 344.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,995 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,546 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in QuidelOrtho were worth $91,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of QDEL. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 68.5% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $640,000 after buying an additional 5,708 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 14,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in QuidelOrtho by 73.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,308 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in QuidelOrtho by 540.2% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 9,168 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho during the 3rd quarter valued at $232,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QDEL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com raised QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on QuidelOrtho in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Finally, William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.43.

QuidelOrtho Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of QuidelOrtho stock opened at $42.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.54 and a beta of 0.08. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.20. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 52-week low of $29.74 and a 52-week high of $69.83. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $727.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $642.16 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of QuidelOrtho 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser acquired 6,033 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $41.42 per share, with a total value of $249,886.86. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $249,886.86. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.