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

Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $51.20.

QDEL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Citigroup raised QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other QuidelOrtho news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total transaction of $291,667,061.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 6,033 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $41.42 per share, with a total value of $249,886.86. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $249,886.86. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of QuidelOrtho

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of QDEL. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 300.7% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 188.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 4th quarter valued at about $74,000. 99.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

QDEL stock opened at $41.49 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $43.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.49 and a beta of 0.08. QuidelOrtho has a 52-week low of $29.74 and a 52-week high of $49.56.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.07 by ($0.44). QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 4.24% and a negative net margin of 66.25%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

About QuidelOrtho

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.