Raymond James & Associates Purchases 14,899 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 11.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 140,982 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,899 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.13% of Quest Diagnostics worth $21,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 50.9% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 41,796 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $5,562,000 after purchasing an additional 14,090 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 131,329 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $17,481,000 after acquiring an additional 18,642 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,921,955 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,853,151,000 after acquiring an additional 345,754 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the first quarter worth approximately $729,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 126.0% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 37,305 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $4,966,000 after purchasing an additional 20,800 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.26, for a total transaction of $304,987.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,756,206.34. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DGX. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI began coverage on Quest Diagnostics in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $163.33.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

NYSE DGX traded down $2.95 on Friday, reaching $155.04. 814,736 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 925,746. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.22 billion, a PE ratio of 20.87, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $123.04 and a one year high of $160.95. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $153.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $144.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 15.35%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. Quest Diagnostics's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. Quest Diagnostics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.38%.

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.