Clarius Group LLC Invests $201,000 in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Clarius Group LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,455 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 19,692 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,715,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Mendota Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 1,296 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $179,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,814 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $753,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,417 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Finally, Montecito Bank & Trust raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 1,909 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 661 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.14, for a total transaction of $83,378.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,071,584.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 5,611 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $706,312.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,478 shares in the company, valued at $4,843,610.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 661 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.14, for a total value of $83,378.54. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,071,584.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,150 shares of company stock valued at $1,913,202 over the last three months. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. TheStreet cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. SVB Leerink assumed coverage on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $135.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.18.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.1 %

DGX stock opened at $128.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $128.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.74. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $119.59 and a fifty-two week high of $148.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.31. The firm has a market cap of $14.29 billion, a PE ratio of 17.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.91.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The medical research company reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.23% and a return on equity of 15.79%. Quest Diagnostics’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 5th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 37.92%.

Quest Diagnostics Company Profile

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated provides diagnostic testing and services in the United States and internationally. The company develops and delivers diagnostic information services, such as routine, non-routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic information services.