Brian Blaser Purchases 23,500 Shares of QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Stock

QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) CEO Brian Blaser bought 23,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $21.34 per share, with a total value of $501,490.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 29,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $630,234.22. This trade represents a 389.52% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

QuidelOrtho Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of QDEL traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $21.31. The stock had a trading volume of 962,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,346,490. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $27.05 and its 200 day moving average is $28.03. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of -3.26 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.62. QuidelOrtho Corporation has a 1 year low of $19.50 and a 1 year high of $49.45.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.29. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 16.10%.The company had revenue of $699.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $667.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. QuidelOrtho’s revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. QuidelOrtho has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.000-2.150 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho Corporation will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

QDEL has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of QuidelOrtho from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $38.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 52.6% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 69,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,054,000 after acquiring an additional 24,031 shares during the last quarter. Newtyn Management LLC boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 58.3% in the 3rd quarter. Newtyn Management LLC now owns 2,700,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,515,000 after purchasing an additional 994,332 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC purchased a new stake in QuidelOrtho during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $10,932,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in QuidelOrtho by 322.2% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Humankind Investments LLC acquired a new position in QuidelOrtho during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $242,000. 99.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

QuidelOrtho Company 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.