Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $2.17 Million Investment in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 48,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,169,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.07% of QuidelOrtho at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in QDEL. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 188.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the fourth quarter worth $74,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 122.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,000 after buying an additional 1,895 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho during the third quarter valued at $238,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 816 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on QDEL. 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 report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Four 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.20.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

NASDAQ QDEL opened at $34.89 on Monday. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 1-year low of $29.74 and a 1-year high of $49.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $40.14 and a 200-day moving average of $41.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.15 and a beta of 0.10.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 negative net margin of 72.84% and a positive return on equity of 3.78%. On average, equities analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.