Catherine T. Doherty Sells 5,370 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 5,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.13, for a total transaction of $935,078.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 68,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,852,680.84. This represents a 7.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $175.49 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $19.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.60. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $125.09 and a 12-month high of $178.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.80% and a return on equity of 15.07%. Equities analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is currently 41.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,490,278 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $828,265,000 after buying an additional 1,637,525 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,263,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $817,117,000 after buying an additional 70,578 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,690,021 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $404,764,000 after buying an additional 73,368 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 60.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,433,913 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $367,180,000 after purchasing an additional 916,898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 2,268,990 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $342,300,000 after purchasing an additional 26,214 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on DGX shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $166.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.23.

Quest Diagnostics Company 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.