Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Shares in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 6,800 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $938,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the third quarter worth $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 100.0% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 218 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 1,100.0% during the third quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the period. Finally, Headinvest LLC bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the third quarter worth $36,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 1.5 %

DGX stock opened at $135.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.04 billion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $131.11. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $119.59 and a 52 week high of $147.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 9.11%. Quest Diagnostics’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, April 8th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 5th. This is an increase from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is 37.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on DGX. TheStreet cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $139.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.17.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 5,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $706,312.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,843,610.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 5,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $706,312.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,843,610.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.64, for a total value of $316,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,067,904.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,150 shares of company stock valued at $1,913,202 over the last quarter. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.