Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Short Interest Up 6.3% in December

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,030,000 shares, a growth of 6.3% from the December 15th total of 1,910,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 819,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

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

Institutional Trading of Quest Diagnostics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DGX. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 340.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 251 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. First Financial Corp IN acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of DGX stock opened at $151.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Quest Diagnostics has a 1 year low of $123.04 and a 1 year high of $165.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day moving average of $156.23 and a 200 day moving average of $152.83.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on DGX. Robert W. Baird upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Baird R W upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Leerink Partners raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted 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. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.15.

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.