Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 5,375 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Yousif Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 22.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,372 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,375 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $2,772,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DGX. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1.5% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 16,125 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,207,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 21,261 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,301,000 after purchasing an additional 1,620 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,965 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 73.2% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,479 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarius Group LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the third quarter worth about $210,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.57, for a total value of $205,712.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,775,802.19. This represents a 6.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.30, for a total value of $66,212.90. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $759,723.20. This trade represents a 8.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Leerink Partners upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reiterated 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, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $166.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.69.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE:DGX opened at $162.66 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $155.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $154.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $123.30 and a 12-month high of $167.08.

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

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.