Quest Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 3,237 Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,237 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $446,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DGX. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 218 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 79.3% during the 4th quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 242 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on DGX. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $139.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,760 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $246,400.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,435 shares in the company, valued at $1,880,900. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,760 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $246,400.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,435 shares in the company, valued at $1,880,900. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 5,611 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $706,312.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,843,610.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,928 shares of company stock worth $1,656,062. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE DGX traded up $1.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $141.28. 647,499 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 912,856. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $119.59 and a 12-month high of $145.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $134.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.03. The firm has a market cap of $15.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.88.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.18. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.04 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 8th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.22%.

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.