Catherine T. Doherty Sells 824 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 824 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.61, for a total transaction of $142,230.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 69,178 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,940,814.58. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of DGX traded up $1.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $172.86. 1,197,915 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,056,162. The company has a market cap of $19.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $123.66 and a fifty-two week high of $176.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $159.23 and its 200-day moving average is $156.58.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.80% and a return on equity of 15.07%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This is a boost from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DGX. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $166.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.23.

Institutional Trading of Quest Diagnostics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 3,843 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $580,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 6,495 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $980,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 20,811 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,140,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,315 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 6,288 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $976,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

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.