Stephens Inc. AR Buys Shares of 14,915 QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Stephens Inc. AR acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 14,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $664,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 16.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,907,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000,000 after acquiring an additional 275,522 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 28.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,256,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,290,000 after acquiring an additional 274,633 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 920,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,996,000 after acquiring an additional 16,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the third quarter valued at $34,320,000. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other QuidelOrtho news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the firm’s 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser acquired 6,033 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $41.42 per share, with a total value of $249,886.86. Following the purchase, 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QDEL opened at $40.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a PE ratio of -1.45 and a beta of 0.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business has a 50-day moving average of $43.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.34. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 12 month low of $29.74 and a 12 month 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.44). QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 66.25% and a positive return on equity of 4.24%. As a group, research analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on QDEL shares. Citigroup upgraded QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com downgraded QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on QuidelOrtho from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on QuidelOrtho from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.20.

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.