Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.18 EPS

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The medical research company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.18, Briefing.com reports. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 9.11%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.04 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Quest Diagnostics updated its FY24 guidance to $8.72-$8.97 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 8.720-8.970 EPS.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DGX opened at $137.55 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.36, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50-day moving average of $128.69 and a 200-day moving average of $131.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Quest Diagnostics has a fifty-two week low of $119.59 and a fifty-two week high of $148.62.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 8th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 5th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on DGX. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. SVB Leerink began coverage on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $135.00 price objective for the company. TheStreet cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $139.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.64, for a total value of $316,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,067,904.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.64, for a total value of $316,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,067,904.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 661 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.14, for a total value of $83,378.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,071,584.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,150 shares of company stock worth $1,913,202 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

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.