GAMMA Investing LLC Has $287,000 Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 45.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,902 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 594 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $287,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 77.5% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 229 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 340.4% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 251 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter worth about $74,000. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the third quarter worth about $82,000. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DGX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Leerink Partners raised Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total value of $2,889,207.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,382,661.05. The trade was a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. The trade was a 15.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:DGX opened at $152.40 on Tuesday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $123.04 and a 12-month high of $165.32. The business has a 50 day moving average of $157.03 and a 200-day moving average of $151.75. 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 stock has a market cap of $17.01 billion, a PE ratio of 20.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is 40.32%.

About Quest Diagnostics

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.