Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Shares Bought by Bahl & Gaynor Inc.

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 16.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 212,951 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 29,469 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned approximately 0.19% of Quest Diagnostics worth $29,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DGX. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 218 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1,100.0% in the 3rd quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 79.3% in the 4th quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 242 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DGX. UBS Group increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $139.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. TheStreet lowered Quest Diagnostics from a "b-" rating to a "c" rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $146.17.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

NYSE DGX traded down $1.16 on Friday, reaching $134.26. 601,735 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,042,554. The firm has a market cap of $14.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $129.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $131.23. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $119.59 and a fifty-two week high of $146.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 8th were given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 5th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. This is an increase from Quest Diagnostics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Quest Diagnostics's dividend payout ratio is 38.22%.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 5,611 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $706,312.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,478 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,843,610.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 5,611 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $706,312.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,478 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,843,610.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 821 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.14, for a total transaction of $103,560.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 70,800 shares in the company, valued at $8,930,712. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,150 shares of company stock valued at $1,913,202 in the last ninety days. 0.79% 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.