Michael E. Prevoznik Sells 528 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 528 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.61, for a total transaction of $91,138.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,737,140.91. The trade was a 1.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of DGX stock traded up $1.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $172.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,197,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,056,162. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $123.66 and a 12-month high of $176.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.18 billion, a PE ratio of 22.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.58.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. This is an increase from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is 41.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on DGX shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.23.

Institutional Trading of Quest Diagnostics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,490,278 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $828,265,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637,525 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 worth $817,117,000 after buying an additional 70,578 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,690,021 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $404,764,000 after buying an additional 73,368 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 60.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,433,913 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $367,180,000 after purchasing an additional 916,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 2,268,990 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $342,300,000 after purchasing an additional 26,214 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.