Olstein Capital Management L.P. Lowers Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Olstein Capital Management L.P. reduced its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 17.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,318 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 11,682 shares during the quarter. Quest Diagnostics comprises approximately 1.5% of Olstein Capital Management L.P.'s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Olstein Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $8,588,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 9.7% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 50,330 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,929,000 after acquiring an additional 4,464 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 11,112 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 10.2% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 2,910 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 3.3% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,220 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $562,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 35.3% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 46,404 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $6,177,000 after buying an additional 12,105 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised Quest Diagnostics from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Baird R W upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $164.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.26, for a total value 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 represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

DGX traded up $1.02 during trading on Thursday, hitting $156.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 524,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 916,494. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $153.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.33. The firm has a market cap of $17.43 billion, a PE ratio of 20.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 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 has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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. 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 earned $2.22 EPS. Quest Diagnostics's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. Quest Diagnostics's payout ratio is 40.32%.

About Quest Diagnostics

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.