Raymond James & Associates Has $21.89 Million Stock Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 140,982 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,899 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $21,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DGX. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 6.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,392 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $999,000. Claro Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,485,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 12,339 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,916,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the third quarter worth approximately $201,000. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,756,206.34. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DGX. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday. 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 report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $163.33.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DGX opened at $158.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.55 billion, a PE ratio of 21.27, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1-year low of $121.60 and a 1-year high of $160.95. The business’s 50 day moving average is $153.05 and its 200-day moving average is $144.57.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 15.35%. The business’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.38%.

Quest Diagnostics 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.