J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Boosts Stock Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 57.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,815 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,627 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $3,967,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. G&S Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,262,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2,531.6% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 450,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $85,932,000 after acquiring an additional 433,764 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the third quarter valued at $4,713,000. TKG Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 125.1% in the third quarter. TKG Advisors LLC now owns 14,596 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,782,000 after purchasing an additional 8,112 shares during the period. Finally, Ethic Inc. grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 144.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 14,424 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,749,000 after purchasing an additional 8,518 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DGX. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $197.27.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.9%

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $184.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.13. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $153.99 and a fifty-two week high of $197.55. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.37.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 13th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 13th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 37.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 7,946 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.35, for a total transaction of $1,488,683.10. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 7,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,410,745.50. This represents a 51.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 55,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.22, for a total value of $10,589,976.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 120,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,158,665.60. The trade was a 31.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 64,289 shares of company stock valued at $12,318,360. Insiders own 8.16% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Company Profile

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) is a leading provider of diagnostic information services that supports clinical decision-making for patients, physicians and healthcare organizations. The company operates a network of clinical laboratories and patient service centers that perform a broad range of laboratory tests and diagnostic assays used in routine care, disease diagnosis, monitoring and screening.

Its services span core clinical laboratory testing, anatomic pathology, molecular and genomic diagnostics, infectious disease testing and toxicology.