Tradewinds LLC. Acquires New Holdings in Quest Diagnostics

June 19, 2023: Tradewinds LLC, a financial firm, recently acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX), a leading medical research company. According to their filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Tradewinds LLC purchased 1,574 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock during the 1st quarter, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also changed their holdings in Quest Diagnostics. Vanguard Group Inc., for example, increased its stake in the company by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, while Victory Capital Management Inc. and Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD also lifted their holdings. In addition, Northern Trust Corp and Amundi saw increases in their Quest Diagnostics holdings during the 1st and 4th quarters, respectively. Institutional investors now own around 88.79% of the company’s stock.

As a result of these developments, Quest Diagnostics stock experienced a 1.0% increase. On Monday, the stock opened at $138.60. The company’s fifty-day simple moving average is $136.93, and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.48. Quest Diagnostics has a market capitalization of $15.52 billion, with a P/E ratio of 20.44 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s current ratio is 1.34, and its quick ratio is 1.20. The 12-month range for the stock is $120.40 to $158.34.

Regarding financial performance, Quest Diagnostics recently released its quarterly earnings data. For the quarter ending April 27th, the company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.04, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.07. The company generated $2.33 billion in revenue for the quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. Although the company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.7% compared to the same period last year, it demonstrated a net margin of 8.26% and a return on equity of 16.51%. Analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will achieve 8.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Additionally, Quest Diagnostics announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 25th. As of Tuesday, July 11th, investors of record will receive a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents an annualized dividend of $2.84 and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 10th. Currently, the company’s dividend payout ratio stands at 41.89%.

Various Wall Street analysts have shared their forecasts for Quest Diagnostics. Truist Financial reduced its price target on the stock to $160.00 and assigned a “hold” rating, while Citigroup raised its price objective from $125.00 to $142.00 and upgraded the stock to “neutral.” Bank of America downgraded Quest Diagnostics to “neutral” and lowered its price target to $148.00. Conversely, Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a price objective of $165.00. Overall, the consensus rating among analysts is “Hold,” with an average target price of $151.20.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated is a prominent diagnostic testing, information, and services provider in the United States and internationally. The company offers various diagnostic information services, including routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic solutions.