Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Purchases 7,121 Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 207,801 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,121 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned approximately 0.31% of QuidelOrtho worth $9,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 23,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,746,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 14,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $681,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 12,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $581,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 5,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 43,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,075,000 after buying an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on QuidelOrtho from $81.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 64,263 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.23, for a total value of $2,585,300.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,395,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $498,687,861.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,468,847 shares of company stock worth $51,024,340. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QDEL traded up $0.67 on Friday, reaching $38.91. 1,159,802 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,572,828. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.61 billion, a PE ratio of -1.47 and a beta of 0.07. QuidelOrtho Co. has a fifty-two week low of $29.74 and a fifty-two week high of $89.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $37.04 and its 200-day moving average is $46.36.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.06). QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 61.65% and a positive return on equity of 3.96%. The business had revenue of $711.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $697.33 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

QuidelOrtho Profile

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.