Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 89 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 6.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,392 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DGX. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 77.5% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 229 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.33.

Insider Activity

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.26, for a total value of $304,987.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,756,206.34. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $155.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.00. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $123.04 and a 52 week high of $160.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $153.12 and a 200-day moving average of $144.75.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 15.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.22 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.38%.

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.