SG Americas Securities LLC Cuts Stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

SG Americas Securities LLC cut its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 46.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,622 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 19,597 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $4,311,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. G&S Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,262,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 2,531.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 450,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $85,932,000 after buying an additional 433,764 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 144.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 14,424 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after buying an additional 8,518 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the third quarter worth $1,452,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 88.6% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 24,167 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,341,000 after buying an additional 11,351 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE DGX opened at $174.59 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $19.42 billion, a PE ratio of 20.49, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.64. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $148.70 and a 12 month high of $197.55. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $181.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The medical research company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.73 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 9.760-9.840 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 13th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 13th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 37.56%.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 55,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.22, for a total value of $10,589,976.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 120,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,158,665.60. This represents a 31.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gary M. Pfeiffer sold 1,482 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.40, for a total value of $270,316.80. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 29,431 shares in the company, valued at $5,368,214.40. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 65,771 shares of company stock worth $12,588,676 over the last three months. Company insiders own 8.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DGX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $203.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $207.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $197.27.

Quest Diagnostics 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.