Kentucky Retirement Systems Reduces Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 7.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,755 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 616 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $1,204,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 26.3% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,738 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 2.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 345,754 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the first quarter worth about $729,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 406,643 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $54,222,000 after buying an additional 11,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1,646.3% in the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 115,115 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $15,323,000 after purchasing an additional 108,523 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on DGX shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $164.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 1.0 %

DGX stock opened at $162.11 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $153.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $147.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $18.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $123.04 and a 52 week high of $162.72.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.22 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is currently 40.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,527,459.28. The trade was a 15.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total transaction of $2,889,207.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,382,661.05. This represents a 34.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 22,520 shares of company stock worth $3,472,728. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.