Nordea Investment Management AB Sells 13,456 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Nordea Investment Management AB trimmed its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 524,000 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 13,456 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned about 0.47% of Quest Diagnostics worth $79,695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 77.5% in the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 229 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 42,432 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $5,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,399 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 24.0% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 31,104 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $4,264,000 after purchasing an additional 6,025 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 5.0% during the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,093 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $834,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 22.2% in the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,259 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $446,000 after purchasing an additional 593 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on DGX. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Leerink Partners upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday. UBS Group raised their target price 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, Bank of America lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Six equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.15.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

DGX traded up $0.38 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $154.02. The stock had a trading volume of 630,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 641,157. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $156.92 and a 200-day moving average of $151.96. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $123.04 and a one year high of $165.32. The stock has a market cap of $17.19 billion, a PE ratio of 20.70, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.90.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.22 EPS. Quest Diagnostics's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics's payout ratio is presently 40.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,734 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,527,459.28. The trade was a 15.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total transaction of $2,889,207.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,382,661.05. The trade was a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.