Allianz Asset Management GmbH Purchases New Holdings in QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Key Points

• Allianz Asset Management GmbH has acquired 77,537 shares of QuidelOrtho Corporation, valued at approximately $2.7 million, during the first quarter, representing about 0.11% of the company's shares.
• Brokerage reports indicate mixed ratings for QuidelOrtho, with Jefferies raising its rating to "buy" while others, such as Wall Street Zen and JPMorgan, have issued "hold" and "underweight" ratings respectively.
• QuidelOrtho reported earnings of $0.74 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, but experienced a 2.6% decline in revenue compared to the same period last year.

Allianz Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 77,537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,711,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH owned about 0.11% of QuidelOrtho as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QDEL. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 300.7% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,074 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 806 shares during the period. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the 4th quarter valued at about $164,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in QuidelOrtho by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,726 shares of the company's stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Humankind Investments LLC acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the 4th quarter valued at about $211,000. 99.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QDEL traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $22.81. 1,600,728 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,360,125. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.11. QuidelOrtho Corporation has a 1-year low of $22.05 and a 1-year high of $49.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.59 and a beta of 0.07.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.13. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 4.71% and a negative net margin of 12.07%. The firm had revenue of $692.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $694.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho Corporation will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on QDEL. UBS Group reduced their price target on QuidelOrtho from $45.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered QuidelOrtho from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised QuidelOrtho from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on QuidelOrtho from $38.00 to $25.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.