Allstate Corp Buys New Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Allstate Corp purchased a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,902 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $934,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at $323,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 20,836 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,743,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter worth $450,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 13.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,991 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $537,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the period. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at $94,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $207.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Leerink Partners lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $203.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Mizuho boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $197.27.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $184.66 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $20.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.64. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $150.14 and a one year high of $197.55. The business has a fifty day moving average of $181.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $180.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.13.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The medical research company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.09. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The business had revenue of $2.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 13th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 13th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.56%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 7,946 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.35, for a total transaction of $1,488,683.10. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 7,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,410,745.50. The trade was a 51.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.76, for a total value of $239,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 17,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,267,015.12. This represents a 6.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 64,289 shares of company stock worth $12,318,360. Company insiders own 8.16% of the company’s stock.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) is a leading provider of diagnostic information services that supports clinical decision-making for patients, physicians and healthcare organizations. The company operates a network of clinical laboratories and patient service centers that perform a broad range of laboratory tests and diagnostic assays used in routine care, disease diagnosis, monitoring and screening.

Its services span core clinical laboratory testing, anatomic pathology, molecular and genomic diagnostics, infectious disease testing and toxicology.