Apollon Wealth Management LLC Sells 292 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Apollon Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,376 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 292 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $1,145,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 126.9% in the second quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 152 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 76.6% in 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 period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 157.3% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 193 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 11,100.0% in the first quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 224 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 2,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $375,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 8,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,500. This represents a 20.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.13, for a total value of $42,705.51. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 38,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,170,951.21. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 53,186 shares of company stock worth $9,647,471 over the last quarter. 8.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. Baird R W lowered Quest Diagnostics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $176.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.81.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE DGX opened at $185.24 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $20.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.56. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $146.91 and a 52 week high of $191.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $181.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 9.01%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.35 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 9.630-9.830 EPS. As a group, equities 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is currently 38.32%.

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.