GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Raises Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

by · The Markets Daily

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX – Free Report) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 36,157 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 943 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $5,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,747,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 15.5% in 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. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 50.9% in 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 buying an additional 14,090 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 23,771 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,164,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SpiderRock Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter worth about $249,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on DGX. StockNews.com lowered shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.33.

Read Our Latest Report on DGX

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 1.9 %

DGX stock opened at $155.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $17.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.83. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $123.04 and a 52 week high of $160.95.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. The company 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 15.35% and a net margin of 8.99%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.26, for a total transaction of $304,987.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,756,206.34. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Quest Diagnostics

(Free Report)

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.

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