Avestar Capital LLC Buys 71 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Avestar Capital LLC lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,288 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $976,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 77.5% in the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 229 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on DGX shares. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $164.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 owns 9,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. This represents a 15.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 $5,382,661.05. This represents a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of DGX stock opened at $162.28 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $155.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $148.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.25. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52-week low of $123.04 and a 52-week high of $165.32. The stock has a market cap of $18.11 billion, a PE ratio of 21.81, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.89.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. 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.