Sanctuary Advisors LLC Buys 8,282 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 85.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,969 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,282 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $2,940,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DGX. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 5,168.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 451,403 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $70,080,000 after purchasing an additional 442,835 shares during the period. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter valued at about $48,783,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 222.0% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 299,740 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $41,028,000 after acquiring an additional 206,640 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter valued at about $22,049,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 25.4% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 747,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $116,018,000 after acquiring an additional 151,365 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DGX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America raised their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Baird R W raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.15.

Insider Activity

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

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 1.9 %

DGX opened at $155.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $17.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $123.04 and a 12 month high of $165.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $156.82 and a 200 day moving average of $150.64.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is 40.32%.

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.