Stephens Inc. AR Makes New $664,000 Investment in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Stephens Inc. AR bought a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 14,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $664,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in QDEL. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 4th quarter worth approximately $74,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 344.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 122.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 4,460.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 4,460 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on QuidelOrtho from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on QuidelOrtho from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at QuidelOrtho

In other news, CEO Brian J. Blaser bought 6,033 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $41.42 per share, with a total value of $249,886.86. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $249,886.86. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were 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. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

NASDAQ:QDEL opened at $40.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50-day moving average of $43.36 and a 200-day moving average of $42.34. QuidelOrtho Co. has a twelve month low of $29.74 and a twelve month high of $49.56. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.45 and a beta of 0.08.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.07 by ($0.44). QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 66.25% and a positive return on equity of 4.24%. Analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.