Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.86 (NYSE:DGX)

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be given a dividend of 0.86 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, July 22nd. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th.

Quest Diagnostics has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Quest Diagnostics has a payout ratio of 32.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Quest Diagnostics to earn $11.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.8%.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

DGX opened at $190.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $195.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $190.17. The stock has a market cap of $21.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.60. Quest Diagnostics has a 1 year low of $164.65 and a 1 year high of $213.50.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.07% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.94 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics will post 10.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DGX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore set a $225.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Company Profile

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.