MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 25,230 Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its position in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL - Free Report) by 96.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 944 shares of the company's stock after selling 25,230 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in QuidelOrtho were worth $43,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in QDEL. Leeward Investments LLC MA boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 17.1% during the third quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 229,847 shares of the company's stock worth $10,481,000 after acquiring an additional 33,588 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 316.2% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 28,916 shares of the company's stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 21,968 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in QuidelOrtho during the second quarter worth about $4,669,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 27.5% in the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 1,728,913 shares of the company's stock worth $57,434,000 after buying an additional 372,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Phocas Financial Corp. bought a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho in the third quarter worth approximately $3,592,000. Institutional investors own 99.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on QDEL. William Blair reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Craig Hallum raised QuidelOrtho from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group began coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised QuidelOrtho from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $53.43.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

QDEL stock traded up $3.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,770,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 993,068. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 12 month low of $29.74 and a 12 month high of $75.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.49 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a 50 day moving average of $40.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.07.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.55. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 4.24% and a negative net margin of 66.25%. The business had revenue of $727.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $642.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other QuidelOrtho news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.31, for a total value of $291,667,061.73. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.