abrdn plc Lowers Stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

abrdn plc lowered its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 434,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 27,706 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $65,718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,263,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $817,117,000 after purchasing an additional 70,578 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,616,653 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $404,838,000 after buying an additional 39,217 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 748,680 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $115,621,000 after buying an additional 15,047 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 747,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $116,018,000 after acquiring an additional 151,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 708,100 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $109,933,000 after acquiring an additional 12,565 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of DGX opened at $163.43 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.10. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $123.18 and a one year high of $167.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $155.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.81. The company has a market capitalization of $18.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.91.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.80% and a return on equity of 15.07%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. This is a boost from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on DGX. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $169.00 to $174.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $185.00 target price (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley raised Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $145.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.69.

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.