Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Sells 1,425 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI cut its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 15.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,973 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 1,425 shares during the period. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI's holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $1,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $828,265,000 after purchasing an additional 1,637,525 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,690,021 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $404,764,000 after purchasing an additional 73,368 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $367,180,000 after purchasing an additional 916,898 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 2,268,990 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $342,300,000 after purchasing an additional 26,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $191,823,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DGX has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $178.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $182.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Quest Diagnostics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $185.73.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DGX traded up $1.92 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $178.90. 743,155 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 988,170. The company has a market cap of $19.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.10. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $135.47 and a one year high of $179.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $172.37 and a 200 day moving average of $165.53.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 7th will be given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 7th. Quest Diagnostics's payout ratio is 40.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 39,191 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.46, for a total value of $6,602,115.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 127,623 shares in the company, valued at $21,499,370.58. This represents a 23.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 874 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.72, for a total value of $153,579.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,471,127.84. The trade was a 9.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,263 shares of company stock worth $7,979,355 over the last quarter. 8.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.