Brooklyn Investment Group Takes $194,000 Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,247 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Davis Selected Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 2,390,828 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $327,257,000 after purchasing an additional 9,665 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 6.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,109,515 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $288,758,000 after buying an additional 129,395 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 748,680 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $115,621,000 after buying an additional 15,047 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 708,100 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $109,933,000 after acquiring an additional 12,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 461,887 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $71,500,000 after acquiring an additional 13,938 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $162.28 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $155.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $148.79. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $123.04 and a 52 week high of $165.32. The company has a market capitalization of $18.11 billion, a PE ratio of 21.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.89.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DGX. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com lowered Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $164.58.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,527,459.28. This represents a 15.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total transaction of $2,889,207.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 34,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,382,661.05. The trade was a 34.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated provides diagnostic testing and services in the United States and internationally. The company develops and delivers diagnostic information services, such as routine, non-routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic information services.