Citigroup Upgrades QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) to “Buy”

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) was upgraded by analysts at Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $50.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $44.00. Citigroup’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 29.87% from the stock’s previous close.

QDEL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. 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. UBS Group started coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. One investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.43.

QuidelOrtho Stock Down 5.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:QDEL opened at $38.50 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.14 and a 200 day moving average of $40.05. QuidelOrtho has a 52-week low of $29.74 and a 52-week high of $75.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a PE ratio of -1.38 and a beta of 0.11.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $642.16 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 51.9% during the second quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 3,645,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245,590 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in QuidelOrtho during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,320,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter worth $19,565,000. Beaconlight Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the third quarter worth $18,152,000. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its position in QuidelOrtho by 27.5% during the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 1,728,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,434,000 after acquiring an additional 372,662 shares during the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is owned by 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.