Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Acquires 1,723 Shares of QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its holdings in QuidelOrtho Co. (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,233 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in QuidelOrtho were worth $1,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of QDEL. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 188.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the 4th quarter valued at about $74,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 122.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,895 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at about $238,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at about $262,000. Institutional investors own 99.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

QDEL has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of QuidelOrtho from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of QuidelOrtho from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of QuidelOrtho from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.20.

QuidelOrtho Trading Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ:QDEL opened at $35.93 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $40.78 and its 200-day moving average is $41.70. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $29.74 and a 52 week high of $49.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.19 and a beta of 0.10.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.44). QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 72.84% and a positive return on equity of 3.78%. Equities analysts expect that QuidelOrtho Co. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

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.