Hancock Whitney Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX)

Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,923 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $1,385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 4,697 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $643,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 2.0% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,948 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $613,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 4.9% in the second quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 2,572 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,392 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DGX has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $165.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective 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. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $164.58.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DGX opened at $162.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $18.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $154.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.63. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $123.04 and a fifty-two week high of $165.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.25.

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

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given 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 1.85%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is 40.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. This trade represents a 15.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $2,889,207.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,382,661.05. The trade was a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,520 shares of company stock worth $3,472,728 in the last three months. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.