Analysts Set Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Target Price at $197.27

Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $197.2667.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on DGX shares. Wall Street Zen cut Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Leerink Partners boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $203.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:DGX opened at $175.82 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $181.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.13. Quest Diagnostics has a 1-year low of $148.70 and a 1-year high of $197.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.64.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The medical research company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.09. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The business had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 9.760-9.840 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 13th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 13th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 7,946 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.35, for a total transaction of $1,488,683.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,410,745.50. The trade was a 51.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gary M. Pfeiffer sold 1,482 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.40, for a total value of $270,316.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 29,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,368,214.40. This trade represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 65,771 shares of company stock worth $12,588,676. 8.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of DGX. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter worth about $238,122,000. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $767,978,000 after acquiring an additional 997,033 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 66,757.0% in the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 849,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $161,946,000 after acquiring an additional 848,481 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 256.5% during the second quarter. M&G PLC now owns 1,072,721 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $193,090,000 after acquiring an additional 771,824 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2,531.6% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 450,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $85,932,000 after acquiring an additional 433,764 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) is a leading provider of diagnostic information services that supports clinical decision-making for patients, physicians and healthcare organizations. The company operates a network of clinical laboratories and patient service centers that perform a broad range of laboratory tests and diagnostic assays used in routine care, disease diagnosis, monitoring and screening.

Its services span core clinical laboratory testing, anatomic pathology, molecular and genomic diagnostics, infectious disease testing and toxicology.