Atwater Malick LLC Acquires 845 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jun 14th, 2023

Atwater Malick LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX – Get Rating) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 49,643 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the period. Quest Diagnostics makes up 3.8% of Atwater Malick LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Atwater Malick LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $7,766,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 8.7% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 6,921 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $947,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 97.5% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,878 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 3,889 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 3.4% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 15,923 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,179,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 21.9% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 191,048 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $26,165,000 after acquiring an additional 34,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 22.1% during the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 68,068 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,316,000 after acquiring an additional 12,298 shares in the last quarter. 88.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on DGX. Citigroup upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $142.00 in a report on Monday, April 3rd. Bank of America cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $148.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 2nd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Friday, March 17th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $170.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.20.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.7 %

DGX opened at $136.71 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $15.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.16 and a beta of 0.95. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $120.40 and a twelve month high of $158.34. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $137.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $142.75.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The medical research company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.26% and a return on equity of 16.51%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 10th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is currently 41.89%.

Quest Diagnostics Profile

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