Nordea Investment Management AB Sells 13,456 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Nordea Investment Management AB lowered its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 524,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 13,456 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned about 0.47% of Quest Diagnostics worth $79,695,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 45.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 594 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 340.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 251 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 438,977 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $68,144,000 after purchasing an additional 68,844 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 45.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 54,897 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,180,000 after purchasing an additional 17,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $201,000. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on DGX. Baird R W raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $145.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Leerink Partners raised Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.15.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of DGX stock opened at $153.78 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $17.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.90. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1 year low of $123.04 and a 1 year high of $165.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $156.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.85.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released 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. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 40.32%.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,382,661.05. This trade represents a 34.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.