Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Has $13.66 Million Stock Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 6.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 80,738 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,647 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $13,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,228,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 76.6% during the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 189 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 9.5% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 18,010 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,047,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 2.2% during the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 7,081 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,198,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 10.2% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 14,577 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,439,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DGX has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $191.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $176.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.00.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE DGX opened at $179.67 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1-year low of $146.17 and a 1-year high of $182.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $174.68 and a 200-day moving average of $171.73. The company has a market cap of $20.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.52, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.46.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.05. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 5,535 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $968,625.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 19,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,363,325. This trade represents a 22.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,269 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.40, for a total transaction of $1,384,230.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,784,484. This trade represents a 43.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,014 shares of company stock worth $2,728,556 over the last three months. 8.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.