QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Shares Down 7.9% – Time to Sell?

QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) was down 7.9% on Friday . The company traded as low as $28.25 and last traded at $28.16. Approximately 104,107 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 1,048,510 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.56.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on QDEL. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on QuidelOrtho from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised QuidelOrtho from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of QuidelOrtho in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.00.

QuidelOrtho Stock Down 6.3%

The company has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.68 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.78. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.74.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $699.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $667.45 million. QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 42.53% and a positive return on equity of 5.75%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. QuidelOrtho has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.000-2.150 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho Corporation will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at QuidelOrtho

In other news, CEO Brian J. Blaser acquired 23,500 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $21.34 per share, for a total transaction of $501,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 29,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $630,234.22. This trade represents a 389.52% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Joseph M. Busky purchased 4,770 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.06 per share, with a total value of $124,306.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $180,335.20. This trade represents a 221.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 29,390 shares of company stock valued at $657,340. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QuidelOrtho

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 87.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,906,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,604,000 after purchasing an additional 1,352,503 shares during the period. Newtyn Management LLC grew its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 58.3% in the 3rd quarter. Newtyn Management LLC now owns 2,700,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,515,000 after buying an additional 994,332 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 46.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,678,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,385,000 after acquiring an additional 529,770 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 23.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,700,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,841,000 after acquiring an additional 510,291 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho in the third quarter worth approximately $10,932,000. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

QuidelOrtho Company Profile

QuidelOrtho is a global diagnostics company formed through the merger of Quidel Corporation and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. The combined entity develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of rapid and high-throughput diagnostic solutions across immunoassay, molecular diagnostics and transfusion medicine. Its offerings span point-of-care platforms for acute care testing as well as large-scale automated systems designed for clinical laboratories and blood banks.

The company’s product range includes rapid antigen and antibody tests for infectious diseases, molecular assays utilizing nucleic acid amplification technology, and integrated immunodiagnostic analyzers.