New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 18.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 108,369 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 24,960 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $16,824,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,921,955 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,853,151,000 after purchasing an additional 345,754 shares during the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 2,390,828 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $327,257,000 after purchasing an additional 9,665 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,109,515 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $288,758,000 after buying an additional 129,395 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 2.1% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 681,636 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $90,733,000 after buying an additional 79,152 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 0.1 %

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $154.16 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $17.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $123.04 and a 52 week high of $160.95. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $153.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $146.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for 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%. Quest Diagnostics’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DGX. UBS Group upped their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Baird R W raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial upped their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $164.58.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Company 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.