UBS Group Begins Coverage on QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL)

UBS Group started coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) in a report issued on Thursday, StockNewsAPI reports. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.55% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on QDEL. Craig Hallum upgraded QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $40.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Friday, August 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.83.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

Shares of QuidelOrtho stock traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $46.49. 198,408 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,035,561. The business has a fifty day moving average of $41.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.76 and a beta of 0.08. QuidelOrtho has a 1 year low of $29.74 and a 1 year high of $76.43.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by $0.15. The company had revenue of $637.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $613.51 million. QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 65.60% and a positive return on equity of 3.87%. QuidelOrtho’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that QuidelOrtho will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other QuidelOrtho news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 24,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.09, for a total value of $733,895.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,141,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $335,250,142.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,902,466 shares of company stock valued at $69,552,560. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of QuidelOrtho

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 23,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,746,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in QuidelOrtho by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 43,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,446,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 2.5% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 12,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $581,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Balanced Rock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 5.1% during the second quarter. Balanced Rock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 27.0% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.