Ridgewood Investments LLC Has $130,000 Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Ridgewood Investments LLC lessened its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 27.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 860 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 321 shares during the quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in DGX. Pensionfund Sabic lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 9,200 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 45.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 594 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 340.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 251 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 18.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 438,977 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $68,144,000 after buying an additional 68,844 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 45.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 54,897 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,180,000 after buying an additional 17,240 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on DGX shares. Barclays raised their price target 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. Baird R W raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DGX opened at $151.73 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $16.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.90. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $123.04 and a 12 month high of $165.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $156.79 and a 200-day moving average of $152.07.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its earnings results 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 business 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 firm’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.22 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 40.32%.

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.