Merit Financial Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL - Free Report) by 226.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,071 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,304 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in QuidelOrtho were worth $772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QDEL. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 7,551 shares of the company's stock worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in QuidelOrtho by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,874 shares of the company's stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 0.6% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 129,025 shares of the company's stock worth $4,512,000 after buying an additional 770 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in QuidelOrtho by 300.7% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,564 shares of the company's stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 816 shares during the period. 99.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

QuidelOrtho Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of NASDAQ QDEL traded down $1.09 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $29.88. The stock had a trading volume of 738,727 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,093,287. The business's fifty day moving average price is $29.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.93. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.99 and a beta of 0.10. QuidelOrtho Co. has a 52-week low of $23.77 and a 52-week high of $49.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $694.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on QDEL shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on QuidelOrtho from $45.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. 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 note on Thursday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on QuidelOrtho from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $38.00 to $25.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, QuidelOrtho currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" 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.