Private Management Group Inc. Acquires 19,899 Shares of QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Key Points

• Private Management Group Inc. increased its stake in QuidelOrtho Corporation by 3.2%, acquiring an additional 19,899 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 0.94% valued at $22.2 million.
• QuidelOrtho reported an EPS of $0.74 for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.61, although its revenue of $692.8 million fell short of expectations.
• The stock received mixed analyst ratings, with Jefferies upgrading it to a "buy" while JPMorgan and UBS lowered their price targets, reflecting a consensus average target price of $44.33.

Private Management Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL - Free Report) by 3.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 635,363 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 19,899 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. owned 0.94% of QuidelOrtho worth $22,219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP acquired a new position in QuidelOrtho during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 300.7% in 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 period. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the fourth quarter valued at about $164,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in QuidelOrtho by 75.3% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,726 shares of the company's stock valued at $166,000 after acquiring an additional 1,601 shares during the period. Finally, Humankind Investments LLC bought a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the fourth quarter valued at about $211,000. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QDEL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of QuidelOrtho from $38.00 to $25.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho from $45.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of QuidelOrtho from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of QuidelOrtho from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.33.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

Shares of QDEL traded down $0.76 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $25.34. 443,599 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,294,969. QuidelOrtho Corporation has a one year low of $23.77 and a one year high of $49.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.15 and a 200 day moving average of $33.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.09 and a beta of 0.07.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 negative net margin of 12.07% and a positive return on equity of 4.71%. The company had revenue of $692.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $694.97 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that QuidelOrtho Corporation will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.