Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,216 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 29,152 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $3,139,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 50.9% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 41,796 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $5,562,000 after purchasing an additional 14,090 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 16.5% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 131,329 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $17,481,000 after buying an additional 18,642 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,921,955 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,853,151,000 after acquiring an additional 345,754 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the first quarter worth about $729,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 126.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 20,800 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,734 shares in the company, valued at $1,527,459.28. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. Baird R W raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $164.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:DGX traded down $1.09 on Thursday, hitting $154.84. 471,011 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 919,285. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $153.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.37. The company has a market cap of $17.20 billion, a PE ratio of 20.94, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $123.04 and a 52 week high of $160.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.35% and a net margin of 8.99%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Quest Diagnostics's payout ratio is currently 40.38%.

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.