First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Increases Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,232 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 685 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $997,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,554,517 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $433,153,000 after buying an additional 388,162 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,476,628 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $479,357,000 after acquiring an additional 62,114 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 14.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,613,793 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $318,517,000 after purchasing an additional 333,947 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 36.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,001,347 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $243,884,000 after purchasing an additional 538,377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 5.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,798,803 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $219,202,000 after purchasing an additional 92,542 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 661 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.14, for a total transaction of $83,378.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,071,584.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 661 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.14, for a total transaction of $83,378.54. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,071,584.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,760 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $246,400.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,435 shares in the company, valued at $1,880,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,910 shares of company stock worth $2,159,602 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:DGX opened at $137.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.71. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $119.59 and a 12-month high of $145.58. The firm has a market cap of $15.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.49, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.88.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 15.52%. Quest Diagnostics’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.04 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.78 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DGX. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $139.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.17.

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.