Acropolis Investment Management LLC Purchases 462 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Acropolis Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 462 shares during the quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $800,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 3.0% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 7.8% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,216 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Intrua Financial LLC lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 2.4% in the third quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 3,827 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 0.3% in the third quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 34,292 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,926,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scott & Selber Inc. lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 0.5% in the third quarter. Scott & Selber Inc. now owns 22,253 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,548,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. 78.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on DGX shares. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $144.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Argus raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $125.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $126.83.

NYSE DGX traded up $0.84 on Wednesday, hitting $127.06. The stock had a trading volume of 13,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,576,986. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $122.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $119.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.32. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52-week low of $73.02 and a 52-week high of $131.81. The stock has a market cap of $17.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.08.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $4.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $3.75 by $0.56. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 19.23%. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.97 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 20th will be issued a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 19th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.15%.

In other news, CEO Stephen H. Rusckowski sold 291,997 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $35,039,640.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 529,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,569,280. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 10,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total transaction of $1,306,250.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,785 shares in the company, valued at $3,723,125. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 395,426 shares of company stock worth $47,604,325 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Company Profile

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated provides diagnostic testing, information, and services in the United States and internationally. The company develops and delivers diagnostic information services, such as routine testing, non-routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic information services.

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