Palumbo Wealth Management LLC Purchases 408 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Palumbo Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 2.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,390 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the quarter. Quest Diagnostics accounts for about 1.2% of Palumbo Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $3,010,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of DGX. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 50.9% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 41,796 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,562,000 after acquiring an additional 14,090 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 16.5% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 131,329 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $17,481,000 after purchasing an additional 18,642 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,921,955 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,853,151,000 after buying an additional 345,754 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter worth about $729,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 126.0% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 37,305 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,966,000 after buying an additional 20,800 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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 price objective for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $164.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.26, for a total value of $304,987.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,756,206.34. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Quest Diagnostics stock traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $155.10. The stock had a trading volume of 61,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 917,287. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $123.04 and a one year high of $160.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $153.38 and its 200 day moving average is $145.37.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.35% and a net margin of 8.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.22 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 40.38%.

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.