QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $51.20.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on QuidelOrtho from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group upped 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. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

NASDAQ QDEL opened at $35.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. QuidelOrtho has a fifty-two week low of $29.74 and a fifty-two week high of $49.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.98 and a 200-day moving average of $41.74. The stock has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.16 and a beta of 0.10.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last announced its earnings results 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%. As a group, analysts predict that QuidelOrtho will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho during the third quarter valued at about $605,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in QuidelOrtho by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,907,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000,000 after purchasing an additional 275,522 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,256,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,290,000 after purchasing an additional 274,633 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $301,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 64.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 272,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,405,000 after purchasing an additional 106,642 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

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.