Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Acquires New Shares in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,344 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DGX. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at about $48,783,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,921,955 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,853,151,000 after acquiring an additional 345,754 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 601.7% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 277,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,993,000 after acquiring an additional 238,007 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 222.0% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 299,740 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $41,028,000 after acquiring an additional 206,640 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at about $22,049,000. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DGX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $164.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of DGX opened at $160.39 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $153.84 and its 200 day moving average is $147.26. The company has a market capitalization of $17.90 billion, a PE ratio of 21.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $123.04 and a 12-month high of $162.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. Research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 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 Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total transaction of $278,533.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,734 shares in the company, valued at $1,527,459.28. This trade represents a 15.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total value of $2,889,207.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 34,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,382,661.05. This represents a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,520 shares of company stock worth $3,472,728 in the last quarter. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.