American Century Companies Inc. Increases Holdings in QuidelOrtho Corporation $QDEL

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 10.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,115,557 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 199,909 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in QuidelOrtho were worth $62,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in QuidelOrtho by 100.6% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 989 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 2,460.9% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 118.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in QuidelOrtho in the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, Tableaux LLC acquired a new position in QuidelOrtho during the second quarter worth about $93,000. 99.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Joseph M. Busky acquired 3,370 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $23.66 per share, with a total value of $79,734.20. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,461.40. This trade represents a 48.70% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brian J. Blaser bought 10,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.59 per share, with a total value of $248,638.60. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $945,322.07. This trade represents a 35.69% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought 24,660 shares of company stock worth $589,175 over the last three months. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on QDEL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on QuidelOrtho from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Zacks Research downgraded QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on QuidelOrtho from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group set a $30.00 price objective on QuidelOrtho in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $31.50.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

QDEL opened at $21.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of -1.27 and a beta of 0.75. QuidelOrtho Corporation has a 1 year low of $19.50 and a 1 year high of $41.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.56.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $723.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.80 million. QuidelOrtho had a negative net margin of 41.46% and a positive return on equity of 5.91%. QuidelOrtho’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that QuidelOrtho Corporation will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

About QuidelOrtho

QuidelOrtho is a global diagnostics company formed through the merger of Quidel Corporation and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. The combined entity develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of rapid and high-throughput diagnostic solutions across immunoassay, molecular diagnostics and transfusion medicine. Its offerings span point-of-care platforms for acute care testing as well as large-scale automated systems designed for clinical laboratories and blood banks.

The company’s product range includes rapid antigen and antibody tests for infectious diseases, molecular assays utilizing nucleic acid amplification technology, and integrated immunodiagnostic analyzers.