CENTRAL TRUST Co Increases Stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 18.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,684 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 340.4% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 251 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Corp IN purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 3rd quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter valued at $91,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Monday. Baird R W upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $182.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.69.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $163.43 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average of $155.40 and a 200 day moving average of $153.81. The firm has a market cap of $18.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.25, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.91. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1 year low of $123.18 and a 1 year high of $167.08.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.80% and a return on equity of 15.07%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.01%.

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.