Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Shares Sold by Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. lowered its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 17,553 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 637 shares during the quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $2,725,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 16.5% in 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 buying an additional 18,642 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,921,955 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,853,151,000 after purchasing an additional 345,754 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 1st quarter worth about $729,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 126.0% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 37,305 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,966,000 after buying an additional 20,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 892.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 21,177 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,819,000 after buying an additional 19,044 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.26, for a total value of $304,987.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,756,206.34. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.3 %

DGX opened at $155.29 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.25. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $153.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $145.62. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $123.04 and a twelve month high of $160.95.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 15.25%. Quest Diagnostics’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.22 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on DGX shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Mizuho upped their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.58.

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.