Cinctive Capital Management LP Invests $4.28 Million in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Cinctive Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 27,580 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,282,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in Quest Diagnostics by 5,168.5% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 451,403 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $70,080,000 after buying an additional 442,835 shares during the period. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter worth approximately $48,783,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 601.7% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 277,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $37,993,000 after purchasing an additional 238,007 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 222.0% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 299,740 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $41,028,000 after purchasing an additional 206,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at $22,049,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. This trade represents a 15.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total value of $2,889,207.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,382,661.05. The trade was a 34.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

DGX stock opened at $161.54 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $155.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $149.41. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $123.04 and a 12-month high of $165.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $18.03 billion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.89.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DGX. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.58.

About Quest Diagnostics

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.