Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 22.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,818 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 1,680 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 340.4% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 251 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. First Financial Corp IN acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on DGX. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $169.00 to $174.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and set a $180.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $145.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $178.38.

Remove Ads

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

DGX traded down $1.84 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $165.49. The stock had a trading volume of 769,212 shares, compared to its average volume of 877,170. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.52, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.10. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $125.42 and a twelve month high of $178.87. The company's 50-day moving average price is $165.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $158.73.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 8.80%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 7th. Quest Diagnostics's payout ratio is presently 41.61%.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 4,643 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $789,310.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,479,890. This represents a 10.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 5,370 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.13, for a total transaction of $935,078.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 68,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,852,680.84. The trade was a 7.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,157 shares of company stock valued at $2,423,755 in the last ninety days. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.