First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Sells 741 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. decreased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 10.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,491 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 741 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 50.9% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 41,796 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,562,000 after purchasing an additional 14,090 shares during the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 15.5% during the first quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 67,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,918,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the first quarter valued at $4,747,000. Waterway Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 14.4% during the first quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,481 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toth Financial Advisory Corp lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 2.1% during the first quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 19,196 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,555,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,760 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 13,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,880,900. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on DGX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $139.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.15.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE DGX opened at $140.45 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $15.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $139.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $133.87. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $119.59 and a one year high of $145.62.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.04 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 8th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.38%.

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.