Swiss National Bank Has $63.99 Million Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 6.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 326,500 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $63,987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 346.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,329,000 after buying an additional 19,361 shares in the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 1,589,883 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $275,895,000 after acquiring an additional 228,271 shares in the last quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,024,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 694.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 179,653 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,175,000 after acquiring an additional 157,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 178.7% during the 4th quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 171,987 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $29,847,000 after acquiring an additional 110,280 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,629,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,702,000. This trade represents a 37.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total transaction of $1,941,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DGX has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore set a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.17.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 0.5%

DGX stock opened at $206.59 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $201.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $196.73. The company has a market cap of $22.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.58. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $165.78 and a twelve month high of $219.20.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 9.07%.The business’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 38.01%.

Quest Diagnostics Company Profile

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) is a leading provider of diagnostic information services that supports clinical decision-making for patients, physicians and healthcare organizations. The company operates a network of clinical laboratories and patient service centers that perform a broad range of laboratory tests and diagnostic assays used in routine care, disease diagnosis, monitoring and screening.

Its services span core clinical laboratory testing, anatomic pathology, molecular and genomic diagnostics, infectious disease testing and toxicology.