QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Trading 8.9% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) shot up 8.9% on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $11.00 to $12.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an underweight rating on the stock. QuidelOrtho traded as high as $19.09 and last traded at $19.0730. Approximately 203,539 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 1,859,724 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.51.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on QDEL. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research raised shares of QuidelOrtho from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $30.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, QuidelOrtho currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $12.38.

Institutional Trading of QuidelOrtho

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 3,691.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 886 shares during the period. Camelot Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 50.3% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 322.2% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,015 shares during the period. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG grew its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 555.2% during the first quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 3,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 2,937 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of -1.07 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $12.70 and a 200-day moving average of $20.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.41). QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 45.57% and a positive return on equity of 4.25%. The company had revenue of $619.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $665.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. QuidelOrtho has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.800-2.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

QuidelOrtho Company Profile

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.