Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL)

QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors purchased 2,023 put options on the company. This is an increase of 595% compared to the average daily volume of 291 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on QDEL shares. UBS Group began coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Craig Hallum upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.83.

QuidelOrtho Trading Down 6.3 %

Shares of QuidelOrtho stock traded down $2.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $36.51. 306,776 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 966,618. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.48. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.29 and a beta of 0.12. QuidelOrtho has a twelve month low of $29.74 and a twelve month high of $75.86.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $642.16 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. QuidelOrtho’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clearline Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 313,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,273,000 after buying an additional 6,300 shares during the last quarter. Arizona PSPRS Trust purchased a new stake in QuidelOrtho during the third quarter valued at about $438,000. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho during the third quarter worth about $238,000. HBK Investments L P lifted its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 52.3% in the 3rd quarter. HBK Investments L P now owns 329,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,032,000 after purchasing an additional 113,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in QuidelOrtho by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 157,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,186,000 after purchasing an additional 2,385 shares in the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is currently 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.