Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Director Sells $205,712.50 in Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.57, for a total transaction of $205,712.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,867 shares in the company, valued at $2,775,802.19. The trade was a 6.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:DGX opened at $162.66 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $123.30 and a 52 week high of $167.08. The company’s 50 day moving average is $155.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $154.07. The company has a market cap of $18.16 billion, a PE ratio of 21.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 8.80%. Equities analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 7th. This is an increase from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is currently 41.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DGX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up from $175.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com lowered Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Leerink Partners upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $169.00 to $174.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $145.00 to $172.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.69.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of DGX. State Street Corp lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,263,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $817,117,000 after acquiring an additional 70,578 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,616,653 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $404,838,000 after purchasing an additional 39,217 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 881,764 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 113,956 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 795,485 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $122,528,000 after purchasing an additional 77,559 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 748,680 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $115,621,000 after buying an additional 15,047 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

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.