Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on DGX. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.15.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $152.84 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $17.06 billion, a PE ratio of 20.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $156.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $152.49. Quest Diagnostics has a twelve month low of $123.04 and a twelve month high of $165.32.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 5.0% during the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,093 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $834,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 142.0% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,309 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $179,000 after acquiring an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.8% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 226,598 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,017,000 after acquiring an additional 6,230 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter valued at approximately $22,049,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 6.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,109,515 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $288,758,000 after acquiring an additional 129,395 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.