Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires 696 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 39.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,452 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 696 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $370,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 70,578 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $404,838,000 after acquiring an additional 39,217 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 2.1% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 748,680 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $115,621,000 after acquiring an additional 15,047 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 25.4% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 747,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $116,018,000 after purchasing an additional 151,365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 708,100 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $109,933,000 after purchasing an additional 12,565 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE:DGX opened at $155.36 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $123.04 and a 52 week high of $165.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $155.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.02. The firm has a market cap of $17.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued 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 return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.22 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is 40.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on DGX shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,382,661.05. This trade represents a 34.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value 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 15.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.