Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd Has $6.52 Million Stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd cut its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 13.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 43,194 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 6,810 shares during the quarter. Quest Diagnostics comprises approximately 1.4% of Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $6,516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,263,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $817,117,000 after acquiring an additional 70,578 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,690,021 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $404,764,000 after purchasing an additional 73,368 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 60.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,433,913 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $367,180,000 after purchasing an additional 916,898 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at $191,823,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 83.7% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,093,042 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $164,896,000 after buying an additional 497,995 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DGX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $169.00 to $174.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.38.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.1 %

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $169.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $167.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $159.30. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1-year low of $125.42 and a 1-year high of $178.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.80% and a return on equity of 15.07%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is a boost from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 41.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.30, for a total value of $66,212.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $759,723.20. This represents a 8.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 535 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.71, for a total value of $90,794.85. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,109,826.76. The trade was a 0.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,157 shares of company stock worth $2,423,755. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.