Private Management Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Private Management Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 615,464 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,241 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. owned approximately 0.92% of QuidelOrtho worth $27,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in QuidelOrtho during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in QuidelOrtho during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 344.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 1,546 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 73.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 1,308 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 122.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,895 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at QuidelOrtho

In related news, CEO Brian J. Blaser acquired 6,033 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $41.42 per share, with a total value of $249,886.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,886.86. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 8,260,183 shares of QuidelOrtho 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “hold” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $50.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, QuidelOrtho has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

QuidelOrtho Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of QDEL opened at $43.97 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.18. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 1 year low of $29.74 and a 1 year high of $69.83. 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 posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $727.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $642.16 million. QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 66.25% and a positive return on equity of 4.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

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.