Empowered Funds LLC Sells 6,391 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Empowered Funds LLC cut its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 32.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,529 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 6,391 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $2,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DGX. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,263,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $817,117,000 after acquiring an additional 70,578 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,616,653 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $404,838,000 after acquiring an additional 39,217 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 15,047 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 747,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $116,018,000 after acquiring an additional 151,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 708,100 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $109,933,000 after acquiring an additional 12,565 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on DGX shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.69.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

DGX opened at $168.97 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $155.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.80. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1-year low of $123.30 and a 1-year high of $171.30. The company has a market cap of $18.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.97, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.91.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.80% and a return on equity of 15.07%. On average, analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,867 shares in the company, valued at $2,775,802.19. This represents a 6.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $759,723.20. The trade was a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.