New Hampshire Trust Acquires 569 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

New Hampshire Trust boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 19.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the quarter. New Hampshire Trust’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DGX. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 8.1% in the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 11,723 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,429,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 16.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,305,532 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $159,092,000 after buying an additional 182,005 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 5.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,798,803 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $219,202,000 after buying an additional 92,542 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 340.0% during the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 7,608 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $927,000 after buying an additional 5,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 205.0% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,147 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,760 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,880,900. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

NYSE DGX traded up $0.13 during trading on Thursday, hitting $137.43. 90,022 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 993,569. The company has a market capitalization of $15.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $137.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $119.59 and a 12-month high of $145.62.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 9.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.04 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 8th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on DGX shares. Mizuho raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $139.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.67.

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.