Pathstone Holdings LLC Purchases 1,820 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,641 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,820 shares during the quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $6,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 4,697 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $643,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.0% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,948 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $613,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,392 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,064 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $283,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares in the company, valued at $5,382,661.05. The trade was a 34.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the firm’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. The trade was a 15.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,520 shares of company stock worth $3,472,728 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DGX. Barclays upped their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 0.2 %

DGX opened at $163.59 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $123.04 and a fifty-two week high of $165.10. The company has a market capitalization of $18.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $154.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $148.10.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is 40.32%.

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.