Burney Co. Purchases 506 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Burney Co. raised its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 506 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $762,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 340.4% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 251 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. First Financial Corp IN acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $74,000. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total transaction of $2,889,207.75. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total transaction of $278,533.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 currently owned by insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.2 %

DGX stock opened at $151.31 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $123.04 and a 52 week high of $165.32. The company has a market capitalization of $16.89 billion, a PE ratio of 20.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The business’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is 40.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on DGX. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. 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, October 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Baird R W raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.15.

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.