Wellington Management Group LLP Lowers Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 8.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,333,448 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 217,344 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 2.09% of Quest Diagnostics worth $362,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DGX. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 77.5% in the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 229 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DGX. StockNews.com downgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI began coverage on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine investment 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 0.7 %

DGX stock opened at $157.35 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.56 billion, a PE ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $123.04 and a twelve month high of $165.32. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $156.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.81.

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

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 40.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total transaction of $278,533.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,527,459.28. The trade was a 15.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of Quest Diagnostics 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 34,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,382,661.05. This trade represents a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

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.