Red Door Wealth Management LLC Makes New $478,000 Investment in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Red Door Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,170 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,000.

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

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares in the company, valued at $5,382,661.05. This trade represents a 34.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,734 shares in the company, 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. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DGX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Baird R W upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $172.15.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DGX opened at $151.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $16.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $123.04 and a fifty-two week high of $165.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $155.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.91.

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

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

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