Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Sells 11,341 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 35.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,256 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 11,341 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $3,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 2.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,233,576 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,556,777,000 after acquiring an additional 296,860 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 32.4% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,039,848 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $545,318,000 after purchasing an additional 744,102 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 7.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,982,415 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $533,563,000 after purchasing an additional 208,261 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 29.9% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,658,351 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $297,890,000 after buying an additional 381,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 36.3% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,599,602 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $287,337,000 after buying an additional 426,399 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report 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 a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $197.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.76, for a total transaction of $239,700.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 17,037 shares in the company, valued at $3,267,015.12. This trade represents a 6.84% 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 Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $23,158,665.60. This represents a 31.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 65,771 shares of company stock valued at $12,588,676 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 8.16% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 3.7%

DGX opened at $186.69 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $181.42 and a 200-day moving average of $179.68. The company has a market capitalization of $20.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.64. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $148.70 and a fifty-two week high of $197.55. 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 (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The medical research company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.09. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The business had revenue of $2.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 9.760-9.840 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 13th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.56%.

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.