Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Takes $4.71 Million Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 24,730 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,713,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. G&S Capital LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,262,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $85,932,000 after acquiring an additional 433,764 shares during the period. TKG Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the third quarter worth about $1,452,000. Finally, Ethic Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 7,946 shares of Quest Diagnostics 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 7,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,410,745.50. The trade was a 51.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 55,093 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 120,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,158,665.60. The trade was a 31.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 64,289 shares of company stock worth $12,318,360 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 8.16% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of DGX stock opened at $182.08 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $150.14 and a one year high of $197.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $181.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.03. The stock has a market cap of $20.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.64.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The medical research company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.82 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. Analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Monday, December 29th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $207.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $197.27.

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.