Private Advisor Group LLC Grows Stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 23.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,444 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $1,170,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter valued at about $48,783,000. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the first quarter worth approximately $46,432,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,921,955 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,853,151,000 after purchasing an additional 345,754 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 601.7% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 277,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $37,993,000 after purchasing an additional 238,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 222.0% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 299,740 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $41,028,000 after acquiring an additional 206,640 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DGX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective 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. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.58.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,527,459.28. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:DGX opened at $154.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.20 billion, a PE ratio of 20.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52-week low of $123.04 and a 52-week high of $160.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.44.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 15.35%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research 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 disclosed 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 was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is currently 40.38%.

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.