OFI Invest Asset Management Makes New $655,000 Investment in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,777 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $655,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,275 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,232 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 1,554 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Ossiam lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ossiam now owns 1,059 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $202,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD Second National Bank of Aurora lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 517 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of DGX stock opened at $198.02 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $199.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $188.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.04. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $159.83 and a twelve month high of $213.50. The company has a market capitalization of $21.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.63, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.66.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The medical research company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 8.99%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.23 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.45-9.650 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 6th will be given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 6th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.31%.

Quest Diagnostics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 10th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to repurchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DGX shares. Barclays lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $211.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 5,558 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $1,146,115.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 67,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,841,227.62. The trade was a 7.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 3,878 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $799,682.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 37,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,744,628.97. This represents a 9.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,083 shares of company stock valued at $4,945,262. Corporate insiders own 8.16% of the company’s stock.

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.