QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $38.58, but opened at $36.98. QuidelOrtho shares last traded at $37.93, with a volume of 1,471,659 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QDEL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group assumed coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Wednesday. Craig Hallum raised QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Friday, August 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.83.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.36 and a beta of 0.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.62 and a 200 day moving average of $40.37. 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) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.55. QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 66.25% and a positive return on equity of 4.24%. The firm had revenue of $727.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $642.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at QuidelOrtho

In other 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QDEL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,879,143 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,906,000 after buying an additional 37,733 shares during the period. Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 15.2% during the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 4,200,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $191,520,000 after acquiring an additional 554,410 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew 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 worth $87,000,000 after purchasing an additional 275,522 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 28.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,256,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,290,000 after purchasing an additional 274,633 shares during the period. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.