Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX Shares Purchased by ABN Amro Investment Solutions

ABN Amro Investment Solutions increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 5.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 76,360 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 4,098 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions’ holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $14,965,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DGX. Key Financial Inc lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1,728.6% during the first quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Quattro Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 114.3% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total value of $1,941,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,629,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,702,000. This represents a 37.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DGX has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Evercore set a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.17.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $206.59 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $201.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.18. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $165.78 and a one year high of $219.20. The company has a market cap of $22.87 billion, a PE ratio of 22.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.58.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.13. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.07% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.01%.

About Quest Diagnostics

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.