Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Has $8.26 Million Stock Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,967 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 1,238 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $8,257,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DGX. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $388,724,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,984,238 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,012,534,000 after buying an additional 493,960 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $55,587,000. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,213,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 53.4% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 495,654 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $83,864,000 after buying an additional 172,518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Gary M. Pfeiffer sold 1,482 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.40, for a total transaction of $270,316.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 29,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,368,214.40. This trade represents a 4.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 1,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.00, for a total value of $365,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 15,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,824,765. This represents a 11.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,668 shares of company stock valued at $9,917,788. Company insiders own 8.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on DGX shares. Morgan Stanley set a $207.00 target price on Quest Diagnostics and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Baird R W downgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $196.31.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $180.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $20.08 billion, a PE ratio of 21.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.56. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $148.70 and a one year high of $197.55. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.10.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The medical research company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.09. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 8.91%.The business had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. Quest Diagnostics’s revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 9.760-9.840 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 3rd. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.56%.

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.