Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 629,246 Shares of QuidelOrtho Corporation $QDEL

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in QuidelOrtho Corporation by 201.6% during the second quarter, now holding approximately 1.39% of the company valued at $27.1 million.
• Analysts have lowered target prices for QuidelOrtho, with Citigroup reducing its target from $50 to $40 and UBS from $29 to $26, while maintaining mixed ratings, including three "Buy" and two "Hold" ratings.
• QuidelOrtho reported $0.12 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, despite a year-over-year revenue decline of 3.6% to $613.9 million.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL - Free Report) by 201.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 941,370 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 629,246 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 1.39% of QuidelOrtho worth $27,130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in QDEL. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in QuidelOrtho during the fourth quarter valued at $457,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 210,207 shares of the company's stock worth $9,365,000 after purchasing an additional 36,826 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of QuidelOrtho in the fourth quarter worth $164,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 624.3% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 91,143 shares of the company's stock worth $4,060,000 after purchasing an additional 78,560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 206,430 shares of the company's stock worth $9,196,000 after purchasing an additional 48,846 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen cut QuidelOrtho from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Citigroup cut their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, QuidelOrtho currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.20.

QuidelOrtho Stock Performance

NASDAQ:QDEL traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $28.46. 989,537 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,208,873. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $26.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.28. QuidelOrtho Corporation has a one year low of $22.05 and a one year high of $49.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.35 and a beta of 0.14.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.11. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 16.10%.The business had revenue of $613.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $612.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.07) earnings per share. QuidelOrtho's revenue for the quarter was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate 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.