Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Cuts Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,764 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 913 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $7,960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DGX. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 85.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,969 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,940,000 after purchasing an additional 8,282 shares in the last quarter. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $355,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 980.3% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 24,198 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,650,000 after buying an additional 21,958 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 26,428 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,987,000 after acquiring an additional 3,983 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $166.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup cut Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $185.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $172.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.38.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

DGX opened at $166.96 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $165.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $158.64. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $125.42 and a fifty-two week high of $178.87. The firm has a market cap of $18.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.92.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 8.80%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.61%.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 1,250 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.57, for a total transaction of $205,712.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,775,802.19. The trade was a 6.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 403 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.30, for a total value of $66,212.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $759,723.20. The trade was a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,157 shares of company stock worth $2,423,755 in the last ninety days. 0.79% of the stock is owned by 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.