Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. Has $363,000 Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 23.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,406 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 730 shares during the period. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $363,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,363,000. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 7.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 92,830 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,412,000 after acquiring an additional 6,619 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 85.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,969 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,940,000 after purchasing an additional 8,282 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 8,669.8% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,178 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,653,000 after purchasing an additional 61,469 shares during the period. Finally, Clean Yield Group lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 26,428 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,987,000 after purchasing an additional 3,983 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DGX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley raised Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.15.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $151.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $16.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $156.23 and its 200-day moving average is $152.83. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $123.04 and a one year high of $165.32.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.22 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is 40.32%.

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.