Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in QuidelOrtho Corporation $QDEL

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,572,075 shares of the company’s stock after selling 64,118 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.15% of QuidelOrtho worth $216,258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QDEL. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 118.1% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 322.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho during the third quarter worth about $63,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 250.7% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 2,309 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 298.1% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 3,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 2,471 shares during the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Matthew Strobeck purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.96 per share, with a total value of $239,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 27,775 shares in the company, valued at $665,489. This represents a 56.26% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 10,540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.59 per share, for a total transaction of $248,638.60. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 40,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $945,322.07. The trade was a 35.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have purchased a total of 23,910 shares of company stock valued at $567,973 over the last quarter. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

Shares of QDEL opened at $10.80 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. QuidelOrtho Corporation has a 12-month low of $10.21 and a 12-month high of $38.99. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.57. The firm has a market cap of $736.46 million, a PE ratio of -0.61 and a beta of 0.75.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.41). QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 4.25% and a negative net margin of 45.57%.The company had revenue of $619.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $665.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. QuidelOrtho has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.800-2.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that QuidelOrtho Corporation will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $12.50 in a report on Thursday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research lowered shares of QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of QuidelOrtho from $30.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $14.88.

QuidelOrtho Company 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.