Patrick Plewman Sells 5,535 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Stock

Key Points

• Patrick Plewman, Senior Vice President of Quest Diagnostics, sold 5,535 shares for a total of $968,625, reducing his position by 22.36% to 19,219 shares.
• Quest Diagnostics reported $2.62 earnings per share for the recent quarter, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $2.76 billion, a 15.2% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.80 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $3.20 and a yield of 1.8%.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) SVP Patrick Plewman sold 5,535 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $968,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 19,219 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,363,325. The trade was a 22.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DGX traded up $1.16 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $178.12. 280,327 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,180,898. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $146.17 and a 52 week high of $182.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $174.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $171.19. The company has a market cap of $19.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.46.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.73 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 21st. Investors of record on Monday, July 7th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 7th. Quest Diagnostics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.32%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 9.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,984,238 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,012,534,000 after purchasing an additional 493,960 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 32.2% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,035,153 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $544,475,000 after acquiring an additional 739,407 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 7.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,982,415 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $533,563,000 after acquiring an additional 208,261 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,196,429 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $180,493,000 after acquiring an additional 188,402 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 7.7% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,177,572 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $199,245,000 after acquiring an additional 84,530 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $191.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $176.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $186.00.

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.