Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Has $1.16 Million Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,473 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $1,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,984,238 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,012,534,000 after purchasing an additional 493,960 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter valued at $388,724,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,177,572 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $199,245,000 after purchasing an additional 84,530 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,013,030 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $171,405,000 after purchasing an additional 10,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 961,154 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $162,628,000 after purchasing an additional 6,079 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on DGX shares. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 10th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Baird R W lowered Quest Diagnostics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 5,535 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $968,625.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 19,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,363,325. This represents a 22.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,269 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.40, for a total value of $1,384,230.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,784,484. This trade represents a 43.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,496 shares of company stock worth $4,278,787. 8.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.7%

DGX stock opened at $184.88 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $177.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.09. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $146.17 and a fifty-two week high of $185.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $20.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.54.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.05. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 9.01%.The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 9.630-9.830 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is 38.32%.

Quest Diagnostics 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.