CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Acquires 11,912 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 406,643 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 11,912 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned 0.37% of Quest Diagnostics worth $54,222,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,921,955 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,853,151,000 after purchasing an additional 345,754 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,476,628 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $479,357,000 after buying an additional 62,114 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,632,326 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $362,945,000 after buying an additional 18,533 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter worth about $140,472,000. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 13.1% during the first quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 681,636 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $90,733,000 after acquiring an additional 79,152 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,760 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $246,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,435 shares in the company, valued at $1,880,900. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

DGX stock traded up $2.95 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $143.91. 1,060,753 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 990,023. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1-year low of $119.59 and a 1-year high of $150.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $141.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.39. The firm has a market cap of $15.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.37, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.89.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 9.11%. Quest Diagnostics’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 8th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 8th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on DGX shares. Citigroup raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.38.

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.