Board of the Pension Protection Fund Makes New Investment in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 600 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,263,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $817,117,000 after acquiring an additional 70,578 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,616,653 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $404,838,000 after purchasing an additional 39,217 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 6.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 129,395 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 748,680 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $115,621,000 after purchasing an additional 15,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 747,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $116,018,000 after buying an additional 151,365 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total value of $2,889,207.75. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total transaction of $278,533.00. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 1.6 %

NYSE:DGX opened at $150.47 on Thursday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1 year low of $123.04 and a 1 year high of $165.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $156.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $152.47. The stock has a market cap of $16.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.22 EPS. Quest Diagnostics’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DGX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Leerink Partners raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup lifted 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.15.

Quest Diagnostics Profile

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.