QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Coverage Initiated at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL - Free Report) in a research report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock.

QDEL has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Friday, August 16th. UBS Group began coverage on QuidelOrtho in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Craig Hallum raised QuidelOrtho from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $40.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $56.57.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QDEL traded down $2.03 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.50. 834,896 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 989,803. The company's 50 day moving average is $40.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a PE ratio of -1.38 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 has a 52 week low of $29.74 and a 52 week high of $75.86.

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

Insider Transactions at QuidelOrtho

In other news, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 15.2% in the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $191,520,000 after purchasing an additional 554,410 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 16.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,907,898 shares of the company's stock valued at $87,000,000 after purchasing an additional 275,522 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted 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 valued at $57,434,000 after purchasing an additional 372,662 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,256,356 shares of the company's stock worth $57,290,000 after acquiring an additional 274,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 920,703 shares of the company's stock worth $41,996,000 after acquiring an additional 16,059 shares in the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.