QuidelOrtho Corporation $QDEL Shares Purchased by Phocas Financial Corp.

Phocas Financial Corp. boosted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) by 45.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 170,018 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,353 shares during the period. Phocas Financial Corp.’s holdings in QuidelOrtho were worth $4,856,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of QDEL. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 1,218.7% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 80,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,803,000 after buying an additional 74,112 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 228,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,987,000 after buying an additional 21,968 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in QuidelOrtho by 210.9% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 20,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $715,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in QuidelOrtho in the second quarter valued at approximately $883,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in QuidelOrtho in the second quarter worth approximately $9,270,000. 99.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other QuidelOrtho news, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 10,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.59 per share, for a total transaction of $248,638.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $945,322.07. This trade represents a 35.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joseph M. Busky purchased 3,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $23.66 per share, for a total transaction of $79,734.20. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 23,910 shares of company stock valued at $567,973. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on QDEL shares. UBS Group set a $30.00 target price on QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research cut QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen raised QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $31.50.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QDEL opened at $17.25 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.04 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. QuidelOrtho Corporation has a 52-week low of $14.45 and a 52-week high of $38.99. The business’s 50 day moving average is $21.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.91.

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

QuidelOrtho Profile

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.