Catherine T. Doherty Sells 535 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 535 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.71, for a total transaction of $90,794.85. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,109,826.76. This trade represents a 0.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE DGX opened at $172.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $19.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $123.66 and a 12 month high of $172.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $157.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $155.93.

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

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is an increase 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 1.86%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Net Worth Advisory Group increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 6,495 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $980,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 20,811 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,140,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,315 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.1% in the third quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 6,288 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $976,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $189.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Leerink Partners raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price 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. Seven 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.23.

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.