Thomasville National Bank Sells 75 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Thomasville National Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,315 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 75 shares during the quarter. Thomasville National Bank’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $349,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,263,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $817,117,000 after acquiring an additional 70,578 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Quest Diagnostics by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,616,653 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $404,838,000 after purchasing an additional 39,217 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,109,515 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $288,758,000 after purchasing an additional 129,395 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.1% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 748,680 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $115,621,000 after buying an additional 15,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 25.4% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 747,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $116,018,000 after buying an additional 151,365 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 1.4 %

DGX stock opened at $153.89 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 stock has a market capitalization of $17.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $156.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.38. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $123.04 and a fifty-two week high of $165.32.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.22 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total transaction of $2,889,207.75. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total transaction of $278,533.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. This represents a 15.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on DGX shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Leerink Partners raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $169.00 to $174.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.15.

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.