State Street Corp Purchases 70,578 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

State Street Corp increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,263,231 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 70,578 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned approximately 4.72% of Quest Diagnostics worth $817,117,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 77.5% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 229 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

NYSE DGX traded down $1.17 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $157.35. 951,373 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 835,314. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $156.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.81. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1 year low of $123.04 and a 1 year high of $165.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $17.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.89.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last issued 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 net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.22 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 EPS 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 paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on DGX. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Citigroup raised 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $164.58.

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.