QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Shares Down 3.8% – Here’s What Happened

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)’s stock price was down 3.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $43.48 and last traded at $43.96. Approximately 48,343 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 95% from the average daily volume of 891,628 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.71.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.43.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.87. The company has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.55 and a beta of 0.08.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $727.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $642.16 million. QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 66.25% and a positive return on equity of 4.24%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian J. Blaser acquired 6,033 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $41.42 per share, for a total transaction of $249,886.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $249,886.86. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,320,000. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 15.2% in the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,520,000 after acquiring an additional 554,410 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho during the 3rd quarter worth $19,565,000. Beaconlight Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho during the 3rd quarter worth $18,152,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,907,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000,000 after purchasing an additional 275,522 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.