Icon Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 8,669.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,178 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,469 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $9,653,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 5,168.5% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 451,403 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $70,080,000 after acquiring an additional 442,835 shares in the last quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter worth about $48,783,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 601.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 277,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,993,000 after buying an additional 238,007 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 222.0% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $22,049,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:DGX opened at $164.19 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $154.66 and its 200 day moving average is $148.10. The stock has a market cap of $18.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52-week low of $123.04 and a 52-week high of $164.25.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 40.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DGX. StockNews.com cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Baird R W raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $164.58.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. The trade was a 15.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total value of $2,889,207.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,382,661.05. The trade was a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 22,520 shares of company stock valued at $3,472,728. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

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.