Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX Stake Lessened by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale trimmed its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 748,680 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 17,258 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $132,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DGX. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the first quarter worth $388,724,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 9.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,984,238 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,012,534,000 after acquiring an additional 493,960 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the first quarter worth $55,587,000. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the first quarter worth $29,213,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 53.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 495,654 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $83,864,000 after acquiring an additional 172,518 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 2,210 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $375,700.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,500. This trade represents a 20.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 227 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.13, for a total value of $42,705.51. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 38,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,170,951.21. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 53,186 shares of company stock valued at $9,647,471 over the last three months. 8.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial set a $195.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $194.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $189.06.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:DGX opened at $190.26 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $21.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $182.68 and its 200-day moving average is $176.41. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52-week low of $146.91 and a 52-week high of $191.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 9.01%.The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.35 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd were given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 3rd. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.32%.

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.