QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Stock Price Up 4.3% – Here’s Why

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) shares shot up 4.3% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $40.95 and last traded at $40.17. 218,369 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 986,571 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.50.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on QDEL. UBS Group began coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, QuidelOrtho presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of -1.47 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $727.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $642.16 million. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 4.24% and a negative net margin of 66.25%. QuidelOrtho’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total transaction of $291,667,061.73. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in QDEL. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 20.3% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 9.1% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 23.7% in the second quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 18,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 3,455 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 907.3% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 826 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. raised its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 9.8% in the second quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 593,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,705,000 after purchasing an additional 52,729 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

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.