Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 33.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,868 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 1,970 shares during the quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DGX. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 5,168.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 451,403 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $70,080,000 after acquiring an additional 442,835 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 25.4% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 747,298 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $116,018,000 after buying an additional 151,365 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 535.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 128,440 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $19,376,000 after acquiring an additional 108,224 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 35.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 298,922 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $46,407,000 after purchasing an additional 78,980 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $817,117,000 after purchasing an additional 70,578 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DGX. Leerink Partners upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Baird R W upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $185.00 target price (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.15.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DGX traded up $9.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $164.56. The stock had a trading volume of 1,341,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 954,514. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $123.04 and a 52 week high of $167.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $155.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $153.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.90.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. This is a boost from Quest Diagnostics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Quest Diagnostics's dividend payout ratio is presently 40.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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.