Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $862,000 Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth $67,000. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 16,259 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,242,000 after acquiring an additional 2,640 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth about $234,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,476,628 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $479,357,000 after acquiring an additional 62,114 shares during the period. Finally, ICW Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,253 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,552,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on DGX shares. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $153.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Evercore ISI started coverage on Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $154.33.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $154.81 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.20 billion, a PE ratio of 20.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $119.59 and a 52 week high of $155.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $145.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 15.35%. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. Quest Diagnostics’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 21st. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is 40.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 420 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.08, for a total value of $60,093.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $718,118.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company 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.