QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on QDEL. Citigroup upped their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research lowered QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group set a $30.00 price objective on QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $31.50.

QuidelOrtho Trading Down 7.9%

QuidelOrtho stock opened at $15.88 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $21.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.95 and a beta of 0.92. QuidelOrtho has a 12 month low of $14.45 and a 12 month high of $38.99.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.03. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 5.91% and a negative net margin of 41.46%.The company had revenue of $723.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other QuidelOrtho news, CFO Joseph M. Busky purchased 3,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $23.66 per share, for a total transaction of $79,734.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,461.40. The trade was a 48.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Matthew Strobeck purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $23.96 per share, for a total transaction of $239,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 27,775 shares in the company, valued at $665,489. The trade was a 56.26% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have acquired a total of 23,910 shares of company stock worth $567,973 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in QuidelOrtho by 50.3% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in QuidelOrtho by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in QuidelOrtho by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 38,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,093,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in QuidelOrtho by 100.6% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its position in QuidelOrtho by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 51,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,471,000 after buying an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About QuidelOrtho

QuidelOrtho is a global diagnostics company formed through the merger of Quidel Corporation and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. The combined entity develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of rapid and high-throughput diagnostic solutions across immunoassay, molecular diagnostics and transfusion medicine. Its offerings span point-of-care platforms for acute care testing as well as large-scale automated systems designed for clinical laboratories and blood banks.

The company’s product range includes rapid antigen and antibody tests for infectious diseases, molecular assays utilizing nucleic acid amplification technology, and integrated immunodiagnostic analyzers.