QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Analysts

QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) has received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the six brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $31.50.

QDEL has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group set a $30.00 price target on QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup increased their target price on QuidelOrtho from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research cut shares of QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other QuidelOrtho news, CFO Joseph M. Busky purchased 3,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $23.66 per share, for a total transaction of $79,734.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 10,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,461.40. The trade was a 48.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser bought 10,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $23.59 per share, for a total transaction of $248,638.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 40,073 shares in the company, valued at $945,322.07. This trade represents a 35.69% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 24,660 shares of company stock valued at $589,175. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 98.6% during the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 463,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,642,000 after buying an additional 229,938 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Asset Management LP increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 217.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ballast Asset Management LP now owns 80,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,357,000 after acquiring an additional 54,829 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 34.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 173,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,994,000 after acquiring an additional 44,242 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $7,625,000. Finally, Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 37.6% in the second quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 738,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,290,000 after purchasing an additional 201,713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

Shares of QDEL stock opened at $21.41 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $27.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.52. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of -1.29 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. QuidelOrtho has a 12 month low of $19.50 and a 12 month high of $41.40.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $723.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $699.80 million. QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 41.46% and a positive return on equity of 5.91%. QuidelOrtho’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that QuidelOrtho will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About QuidelOrtho

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.