Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Shares Sold by Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd

Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd reduced its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,904 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,257 shares during the quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 12.9% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,692 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 84,863 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,175,000 after buying an additional 19,570 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 38,735 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,014,000 after buying an additional 8,094 shares in the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 8,669.8% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,178 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,653,000 after acquiring an additional 61,469 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 13.2% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 126,179 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,589,000 after acquiring an additional 14,695 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on DGX shares. 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. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a 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. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $163.32 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $123.04 and a 12 month high of $165.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $18.23 billion, a PE ratio of 21.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $155.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $149.00.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released 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. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders 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 1.84%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.32%.

Insider Activity

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,527,459.28. This represents a 15.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 represents a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.