QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) Stock Position Increased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL - Free Report) by 64.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 272,037 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 106,642 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.40% of QuidelOrtho worth $12,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,908 shares of the company's stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho during the second quarter valued at about $259,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 562,356 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,681,000 after acquiring an additional 26,364 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,737 shares of the company's stock worth $722,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,984 shares of the company's stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at QuidelOrtho

In related news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser bought 6,033 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $41.42 per share, for a total transaction of $249,886.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $249,886.86. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on QDEL shares. UBS Group started coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. William Blair reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a "hold" rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Craig Hallum raised shares of QuidelOrtho from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of QuidelOrtho from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.43.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

Shares of QDEL traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $44.00. 606,854 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 988,076. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.16. QuidelOrtho Co. has a fifty-two week low of $29.74 and a fifty-two week high of $75.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a PE ratio of -1.58 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

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

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.