Insider Selling: Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) EVP Sells 535 Shares of Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 535 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.71, for a total transaction of $90,794.85. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 71,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,109,826.76. This trade represents a 0.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of DGX stock opened at $172.44 on Monday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1 year low of $123.66 and a 1 year high of $172.91. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $157.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.80% and a return on equity of 15.07%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 7th. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is 39.01%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 42.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,490,278 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $828,265,000 after buying an additional 1,637,525 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,263,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $817,117,000 after buying an additional 70,578 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,690,021 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $404,764,000 after buying an additional 73,368 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 60.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,433,913 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $367,180,000 after buying an additional 916,898 shares during the period. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 2,268,990 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $342,300,000 after purchasing an additional 26,214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on DGX shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $166.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $145.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.23.

Quest Diagnostics Company 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.