Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Stock Position Lowered by Financial Counselors Inc.

Financial Counselors Inc. lessened its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 103,469 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,041 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $16,064,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DGX. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 77.5% in the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 229 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DGX shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group boosted 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. Baird R W raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $164.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,734 shares in the company, valued at $1,527,459.28. The trade was a 15.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 34,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,382,661.05. This trade represents a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of DGX stock opened at $163.36 on Thursday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1-year low of $123.04 and a 1-year high of $165.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $18.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $155.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $148.90.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.32%.

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.