B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Acquires New Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,079,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 42,641 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,620,000 after purchasing an additional 1,820 shares during the period. IVY Lane Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 21.3% during the third quarter. IVY Lane Capital Management LLC now owns 57,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,849,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the third quarter worth about $1,022,000. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 329,800 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $51,201,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 98.2% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 18,967 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,945,000 after purchasing an additional 9,396 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI began coverage on Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of DGX opened at $163.59 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $123.04 and a 52 week high of $165.10. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $154.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $148.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $18.26 billion, a PE ratio of 21.99, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.89.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.22 EPS. Research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.32%.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total value of $2,889,207.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 34,941 shares in the company, valued at $5,382,661.05. This represents a 34.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. The trade was a 15.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,520 shares of company stock worth $3,472,728 in the last quarter. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.