Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 18.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 438,977 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 68,844 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.39% of Quest Diagnostics worth $68,144,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 77.5% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 229 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Centerpoint Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 51.5% during the 2nd quarter. Centerpoint Advisors LLC now owns 362 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on DGX. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $182.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $172.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $169.15.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

DGX traded up $1.58 during trading on Friday, reaching $153.10. 1,344,317 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 917,121. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1 year low of $123.04 and a 1 year high of $165.32. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $157.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.89.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The business's revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Quest Diagnostics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. The trade was a 15.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 34,941 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,382,661.05. This trade represents a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

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.