HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Acquires 456 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,855 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 456 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 57,107 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,615,000 after purchasing an additional 2,210 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 83.7% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,093,042 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $164,896,000 after purchasing an additional 497,995 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 4,305 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $649,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 77,316 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,672,000 after buying an additional 5,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $512,000. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.57, for a total transaction of $205,712.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,867 shares in the company, valued at $2,775,802.19. This trade represents a 6.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 403 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.30, for a total value of $66,212.90. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $759,723.20. This represents a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,157 shares of company stock worth $2,423,755 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $166.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.38.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DGX opened at $169.45 on Wednesday. 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 capitalization of $18.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.92. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $125.42 and a 12 month high of $178.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $167.34 and a 200-day moving average of $159.30.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.80% and a return on equity of 15.07%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is 41.61%.

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.