Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Position Boosted by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,124 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $3,187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DGX. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 5,168.5% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 451,403 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $70,080,000 after buying an additional 442,835 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 25.4% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 747,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $116,018,000 after buying an additional 151,365 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 535.3% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 128,440 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,376,000 after buying an additional 108,224 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 543,472 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $81,994,000 after buying an additional 104,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 35.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 298,922 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,407,000 after buying an additional 78,980 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on DGX. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Leerink Partners raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $189.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $180.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.23.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:DGX opened at $173.99 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $157.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $156.17. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $123.66 and a 52 week high of $175.89. The company has a market capitalization of $19.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.10.

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 return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 8.80%. On average, research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 403 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.30, for a total transaction of $66,212.90. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,624 shares in the company, valued at $759,723.20. This trade represents a 8.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.57, for a total value of $205,712.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,775,802.19. This trade represents a 6.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,792 shares of company stock worth $465,998 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

About Quest Diagnostics

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.