Ieq Capital LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 30.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,559 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 822 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 100.0% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 218 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 79.3% in the fourth quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 242 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $139.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. TheStreet cut Quest Diagnostics from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Ten equities research 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.17.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of DGX stock opened at $142.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $15.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $132.52. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $119.59 and a fifty-two week high of $145.58.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.04 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, July 8th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 5,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $706,312.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,843,610.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 5,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $706,312.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,843,610.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 661 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.14, for a total value of $83,378.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,071,584.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,910 shares of company stock valued at $2,159,602. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.