MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 690 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,937 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 690 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $4,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DGX. CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 83.7% during the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 5,343 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $829,000 after purchasing an additional 2,434 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 5.8% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 1,659 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 25.4% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 747,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $116,018,000 after buying an additional 151,365 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.1% in the third quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 6,288 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $976,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the third quarter valued at approximately $194,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total transaction of $278,533.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,527,459.28. The trade was a 15.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total transaction of $2,889,207.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,382,661.05. This represents a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $162.66 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $18.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1-year low of $123.04 and a 1-year high of $165.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $155.62 and a 200-day moving average of $149.28.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DGX. Barclays increased their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $164.58.

Quest Diagnostics 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.