QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) Major Shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. Sells 49,937 Shares

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 49,937 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.05, for a total transaction of $1,650,417.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,520,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,760,820.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Carlyle Group Inc. also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, June 26th, Carlyle Group Inc. sold 81,482 shares of QuidelOrtho stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.19, for a total value of $2,704,387.58.
• On Monday, June 24th, Carlyle Group Inc. sold 73,713 shares of QuidelOrtho stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.34, for a total value of $2,531,304.42.
• On Thursday, June 20th, Carlyle Group Inc. sold 67,207 shares of QuidelOrtho stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.89, for a total value of $2,344,852.23.
• On Monday, June 17th, Carlyle Group Inc. sold 99,642 shares of QuidelOrtho stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.99, for a total transaction of $3,586,115.58.
• On Friday, June 14th, Carlyle Group Inc. sold 127,981 shares of QuidelOrtho stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.19, for a total transaction of $4,631,632.39.
• On Wednesday, June 12th, Carlyle Group Inc. sold 64,263 shares of QuidelOrtho stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.23, for a total transaction of $2,585,300.49.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

Shares of QDEL opened at $31.63 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.81. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 1-year low of $31.61 and a 1-year high of $89.11. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a PE ratio of -1.20 and a beta of 0.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.32.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $711.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $697.33 million. QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 61.65% and a positive return on equity of 3.96%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QDEL. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 167.4% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 85,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,292,000 after acquiring an additional 53,446 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in QuidelOrtho by 144.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 908,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,961,000 after purchasing an additional 536,492 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 11.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 760,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,557,000 after purchasing an additional 76,866 shares during the period. Comerica Bank purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the third quarter valued at about $5,156,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 25.0% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 5,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $424,000 after buying an additional 1,161 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on QDEL shares. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $42.00 target price (down previously from $70.00) on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $81.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, QuidelOrtho has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.00.

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.