Cetera Investment Advisers Has $2.78 Million Stock Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,399 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,462 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $2,776,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,490,278 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $828,265,000 after buying an additional 1,637,525 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter valued at about $191,823,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,433,913 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $367,180,000 after buying an additional 916,898 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 83.7% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,093,042 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $164,896,000 after buying an additional 497,995 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter worth about $67,447,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 874 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.72, for a total transaction of $153,579.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,471,127.84. This trade represents a 9.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 535 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.71, for a total value of $90,794.85. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 71,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,109,826.76. This trade represents a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,124 shares of company stock valued at $9,341,875. 8.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

DGX traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $178.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 994,516 shares, compared to its average volume of 984,021. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $135.47 and a fifty-two week high of $182.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.89 billion, a PE ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $163.82.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.63 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 8.80%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 7th. Quest Diagnostics's payout ratio is currently 40.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on DGX. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $182.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $166.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut Quest Diagnostics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Redburn Partners set a $195.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $185.73.

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.