New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $15.29 Million Stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 101,382 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 6,987 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.09% of Quest Diagnostics worth $15,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,315 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $198,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 6,288 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $976,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 764 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.0% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,948 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $613,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,139 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $172,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DGX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $145.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Leerink Partners raised Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $166.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.23.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.2 %

DGX stock opened at $172.44 on Monday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $123.66 and a fifty-two week high of $172.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $157.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.00.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. This is an increase from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 7th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 535 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.71, for a total transaction of $90,794.85. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,109,826.76. This represents a 0.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 403 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.30, for a total value of $66,212.90. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $759,723.20. This trade represents a 8.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,792 shares of company stock worth $465,998. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

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.