Savant Capital LLC Has $1.80 Million Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 380.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,953 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,467 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $1,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,263,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $817,117,000 after buying an additional 70,578 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,616,653 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $404,838,000 after buying an additional 39,217 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 748,680 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $115,621,000 after buying an additional 15,047 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 747,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $116,018,000 after buying an additional 151,365 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 708,100 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $109,933,000 after buying an additional 12,565 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $759,723.20. This represents a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.57, for a total transaction of $205,712.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,775,802.19. The trade was a 6.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DGX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.69.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:DGX opened at $169.09 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $155.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $123.30 and a one year high of $169.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.87 billion, a PE ratio of 21.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. This is a boost 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 is presently 39.01%.

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.