Vontobel Holding Ltd. Acquires New Shares in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $299,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 109.0% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 347 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the third quarter worth about $106,000. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the third quarter worth about $123,000. Denali Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 622.5% in the third quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 2,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 1,992 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the third quarter worth about $210,000. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at QuidelOrtho

In related news, CFO Joseph M. Busky purchased 2,150 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $46.35 per share, with a total value of $99,652.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 2,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,652.50. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on QDEL. Craig Hallum restated a “hold” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price objective (down from $100.00) on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $42.00 price objective (down from $70.00) on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $130.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.60.

QuidelOrtho Stock Up 3.4 %

QDEL stock opened at $40.40 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $44.76 and a 200-day moving average of $60.16. QuidelOrtho Co. has a fifty-two week low of $37.78 and a fifty-two week high of $95.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -252.50 and a beta of 0.11.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.01 by ($0.84). QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 0.34% and a positive return on equity of 5.54%. The company had revenue of $742.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $796.91 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

QuidelOrtho 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.