QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Stock Price Down 3.2% - Here's Why

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 3.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $43.02 and last traded at $43.19. 52,723 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 93% from the average session volume of 806,820 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.61.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a "hold" rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. UBS Group began coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded QuidelOrtho from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, QuidelOrtho has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $53.43.

QuidelOrtho Stock Down 7.9 %

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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.47 and a beta of 0.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $42.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.93.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. 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%. The company's revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 6,033 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $41.42 per share, with a total value of $249,886.86. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $249,886.86. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of QuidelOrtho

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QDEL. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 17,095.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,439 shares of the company's stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 3,419 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in QuidelOrtho by 73.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the company's stock valued at $141,000 after buying an additional 1,308 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 148.4% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 6,018 shares of the company's stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 3,595 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 4,460.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,560 shares of the company's stock valued at $208,000 after acquiring an additional 4,460 shares in the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.