Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Lowers Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd reduced its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,284 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 402 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $1,418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Brandes Investment Partners LP purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at $446,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,788 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $798,000 after purchasing an additional 699 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at $446,000. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at $1,473,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 41,413 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,710,000 after purchasing an additional 5,308 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DGX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Leerink Partnrs restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $146.17.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,760 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $246,400.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,880,900. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,760 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $246,400.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,435 shares in the company, valued at $1,880,900. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 5,611 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total value of $706,312.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,478 shares in the company, valued at $4,843,610.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,928 shares of company stock worth $1,656,062. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.3 %

DGX traded up $0.44 on Friday, hitting $140.48. 17,544 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,023,371. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $132.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.97. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $119.59 and a 12 month high of $145.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.61 billion, a PE ratio of 18.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.88.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.18. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.04 EPS. Quest Diagnostics’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 8th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 8th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.38%.

About Quest Diagnostics

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.