Railway Pension Investments Ltd Sells 141,064 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Railway Pension Investments Ltd reduced its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 79.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,161 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 141,064 shares during the quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $5,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 50.9% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 41,796 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,562,000 after purchasing an additional 14,090 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 135,148 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $18,634,000 after acquiring an additional 7,415 shares in the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at $1,562,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 131,329 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $17,481,000 after purchasing an additional 18,642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,921,955 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,853,151,000 after purchasing an additional 345,754 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on DGX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $144.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $153.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.42.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.4 %

DGX traded down $0.58 on Tuesday, reaching $153.32. 74,927 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 964,078. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $17.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $144.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.22. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $119.59 and a one year high of $154.71.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.35% and a net margin of 8.99%. Quest Diagnostics’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.38%.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 420 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.08, for a total transaction of $60,093.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,019 shares in the company, valued at $718,118.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Quest Diagnostics 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.