Toronto Dominion Bank Acquires 851 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 1.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 55,846 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 851 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank owned about 0.05% of Quest Diagnostics worth $8,670,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 77.5% in the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 229 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. The trade was a 15.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares in the company, valued at $5,382,661.05. The trade was a 34.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DGX. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $185.00 target price (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Baird R W raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays upped 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. Nine equities research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.92.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DGX opened at $154.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.83, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $123.04 and a twelve month high of $165.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a 50 day moving average of $156.48 and a 200 day moving average of $150.19.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.32%.

Quest Diagnostics Company Profile

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.