NorthRock Partners LLC Buys New Holdings in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 29,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,319,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in QDEL. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in QuidelOrtho by 64.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 272,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,405,000 after buying an additional 106,642 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho during the fourth quarter worth about $433,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho during the fourth quarter worth about $301,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho during the fourth quarter worth about $301,000. Finally, Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of QuidelOrtho during the fourth quarter worth about $458,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

QuidelOrtho Stock Down 5.5%

Shares of QuidelOrtho stock opened at $33.55 on Thursday. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 52-week low of $23.77 and a 52-week high of $49.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a PE ratio of -1.11 and a beta of 0.13. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.22.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.13. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 3.78% and a negative net margin of 72.84%. The firm had revenue of $692.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $694.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on QDEL. UBS Group dropped their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $45.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of QuidelOrtho from $38.00 to $25.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of QuidelOrtho from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, QuidelOrtho has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.33.

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.