Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Purchases 1,125 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,862 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 1,125 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $3,147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 301,229 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $45,443,000 after buying an additional 7,938 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter worth about $191,823,000. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 40,157 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,058,000 after purchasing an additional 5,218 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 14,688 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,216,000 after purchasing an additional 2,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 60.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,433,913 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $367,180,000 after purchasing an additional 916,898 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 1,250 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.57, for a total value of $205,712.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,775,802.19. The trade was a 6.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 403 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was 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 directly owns 4,624 shares in the company, valued at $759,723.20. This trade represents a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,157 shares of company stock valued at $2,423,755. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on DGX shares. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $166.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.38.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DGX opened at $169.39 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $18.80 billion, a PE ratio of 22.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $167.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $159.20. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1-year low of $125.42 and a 1-year high of $178.87.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.80% and a return on equity of 15.07%. As a group, analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. This is an increase from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.