Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Boosts Position in QuidelOrtho Corporation $QDEL

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 222.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 833,791 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 574,877 shares during the quarter. QuidelOrtho makes up 1.3% of Rice Hall James & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned 1.23% of QuidelOrtho worth $23,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 1,218.7% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 80,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,803,000 after acquiring an additional 74,112 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 10.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 228,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,987,000 after acquiring an additional 21,968 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 210.9% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 20,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $715,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the second quarter valued at $1,313,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 250.7% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 2,309 shares in the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on QDEL. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $12.50 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $30.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 12th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $12.00 price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $14.88.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

NASDAQ QDEL opened at $14.57 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $12.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.15. QuidelOrtho Corporation has a twelve month low of $9.92 and a twelve month high of $35.58. The company has a market capitalization of $993.53 million, a PE ratio of -0.82 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.41). The business had revenue of $619.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $665.23 million. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 4.25% and a negative net margin of 45.57%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. QuidelOrtho has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.800-2.000 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that QuidelOrtho Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

QuidelOrtho Profile

QuidelOrtho is a global diagnostics company formed through the merger of Quidel Corporation and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. The combined entity develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of rapid and high-throughput diagnostic solutions across immunoassay, molecular diagnostics and transfusion medicine. Its offerings span point-of-care platforms for acute care testing as well as large-scale automated systems designed for clinical laboratories and blood banks.

The company’s product range includes rapid antigen and antibody tests for infectious diseases, molecular assays utilizing nucleic acid amplification technology, and integrated immunodiagnostic analyzers.