QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on QuidelOrtho from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on QuidelOrtho from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup upgraded QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.20.

QuidelOrtho Stock Down 2.6 %

QDEL opened at $40.57 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $43.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.45 and a beta of 0.08. QuidelOrtho has a one year low of $29.74 and a one year high of $49.56.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 negative net margin of 66.25% and a positive return on equity of 4.24%. Analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total transaction of $291,667,061.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 6,033 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $41.42 per share, for a total transaction of $249,886.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 company insiders.

Institutional Trading of QuidelOrtho

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in QDEL. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in QuidelOrtho by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 206,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,196,000 after acquiring an additional 48,846 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in QuidelOrtho by 624.3% in the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 91,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,060,000 after acquiring an additional 78,560 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in QuidelOrtho by 300.7% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 806 shares during the period. Stanley Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,687,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $164,000. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.