Caprock Group LLC Purchases 252 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,228 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the quarter. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $487,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,263,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $817,117,000 after purchasing an additional 70,578 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,616,653 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $404,838,000 after buying an additional 39,217 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.1% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 748,680 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $115,621,000 after buying an additional 15,047 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 25.4% in 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 buying an additional 151,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 708,100 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $109,933,000 after buying an additional 12,565 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $166.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.69.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE DGX opened at $163.43 on Wednesday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $123.18 and a one year high of $167.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $18.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $155.40 and its 200-day moving average is $153.81.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.80% and a return on equity of 15.07%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 7th. This is a boost from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio 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.