Royal Bank of Canada Lowers QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Price Target to $61.00

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL - Free Report) had its price objective trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $64.00 to $61.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on QDEL. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of QuidelOrtho from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, William Blair reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.20.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:QDEL traded down $1.08 on Thursday, reaching $40.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,445,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 828,934. QuidelOrtho has a 52-week low of $29.74 and a 52-week high of $49.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock's 50-day moving average is $43.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.45 and a beta of 0.08.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.07 by ($0.44). QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 4.24% and a negative net margin of 66.25%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at QuidelOrtho

In other QuidelOrtho news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 6,033 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $41.42 per share, for a total transaction of $249,886.86. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 6,033 shares of the company's stock, valued at $249,886.86. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new position in QuidelOrtho during the third quarter worth approximately $605,000. Leeward Investments LLC MA raised 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 purchasing an additional 33,588 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in QuidelOrtho by 16.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,907,898 shares of the company's stock worth $87,000,000 after purchasing an additional 275,522 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in QuidelOrtho by 28.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,256,356 shares of the company's stock worth $57,290,000 after purchasing an additional 274,633 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the fourth quarter worth $301,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company's stock.

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.