Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Sells 8,627 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise cut its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 28.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,482 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 8,627 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $3,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DGX. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 26.3% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,738 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $364,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the first quarter valued at $729,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its position in Quest Diagnostics by 2,080.0% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 872 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 832 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 63.3% during the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 5,208 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 2,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 33.8% in the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,521 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 2,405 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on DGX shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 0.6 %

DGX opened at $161.18 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.66, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $123.04 and a fifty-two week high of $162.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a fifty day moving average of $154.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $147.72.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its 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. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.32%.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total transaction of $278,533.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. The trade was a 15.42 % 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 the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 34,941 shares in the company, valued at $5,382,661.05. The trade was a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,520 shares of company stock valued at $3,472,728 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.79% 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.