Prudential PLC Sells 5,516 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Prudential PLC lessened its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 67,409 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,516 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC owned 0.06% of Quest Diagnostics worth $10,169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 47.7% in the fourth quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 12,969 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,957,000 after acquiring an additional 4,188 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth $16,341,000. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 1,644 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 2,476 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1,080.1% in the 4th quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 18,504 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,792,000 after purchasing an additional 16,936 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Leerink Partners raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley raised Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $172.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 5,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.13, for a total transaction of $935,078.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 68,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,852,680.84. This trade represents a 7.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 403 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.30, for a total transaction of $66,212.90. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $759,723.20. This trade represents a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,903 shares of company stock valued at $9,460,221. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 3.8 %

DGX stock opened at $164.08 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $125.42 and a fifty-two week high of $178.87. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $168.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $159.49. The company has a market cap of $18.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.78.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 8.80%. On average, research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. This is an increase from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is 41.61%.

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.