Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Has $273,000 Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec reduced its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 97.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,757 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 76,723 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec's holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Avestar Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 6,288 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $976,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.6% during the second quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 4,697 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $643,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.0% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,948 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $613,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 4.9% during the second quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,795 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 3.5% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 2,572 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,382,661.05. This represents a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,527,459.28. This trade represents a 15.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on DGX. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $164.58.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 1.1 %

DGX traded down $1.72 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $160.23. 508,440 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 915,142. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $123.04 and a fifty-two week high of $165.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.88 billion, a PE ratio of 21.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company's fifty day moving average price is $155.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $149.54.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The firm's revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.22 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Quest Diagnostics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.32%.

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.