Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 64.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 272,037 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 106,642 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in QuidelOrtho were worth $12,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,879,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,906,000 after purchasing an additional 37,733 shares during the period. Rubric Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 51.9% during the 2nd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 3,645,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,106,000 after buying an additional 1,245,590 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. raised 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 buying an additional 372,662 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. raised its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 626,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,578,000 after buying an additional 16,084 shares during the period. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. lifted its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 9.8% in the second quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 593,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,705,000 after acquiring an additional 52,729 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

QDEL stock opened at $36.18 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $42.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.45. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 12-month low of $29.74 and a 12-month high of $75.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a PE ratio of -1.30 and a beta of 0.12.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $642.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QDEL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Craig Hallum raised QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.83.

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.