RD Lewis Holdings Inc. Takes $439,000 Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

RD Lewis Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,701 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $439,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 70,578 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,616,653 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $404,838,000 after acquiring an additional 39,217 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 881,764 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $133,023,000 after acquiring an additional 113,956 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 795,485 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $122,528,000 after acquiring an additional 77,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 25.4% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 747,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $116,018,000 after acquiring an additional 151,365 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $166.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $172.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $178.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.30, for a total value of $66,212.90. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $759,723.20. The trade was a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 1,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.57, for a total transaction of $205,712.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,867 shares in the company, valued at $2,775,802.19. This represents a 6.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 9,514 shares of company stock valued at $1,634,445. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $173.62 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $158.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.92. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $125.42 and a 12 month high of $178.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.80% and a return on equity of 15.07%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current 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 $0.80 dividend. This is a boost from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is currently 41.61%.

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.