Nuance Investments LLC Takes Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Nuance Investments LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 27,470 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,822,000. Quest Diagnostics makes up 1.0% of Nuance Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Focused Alpha LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at $635,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,965,923,000. Occidental Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter worth $6,119,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter worth approximately $124,180,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on DGX. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Argus set a $260.00 target price on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,629,400.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,510 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,702,000. The trade was a 37.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total value of $1,941,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at $25,708,601.22. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 19,747 shares of company stock worth $3,947,088. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

NYSE:DGX opened at $235.20 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $216.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $203.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.96 billion, a PE ratio of 24.97, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.56. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1 year low of $171.18 and a 1 year high of $240.13.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.30. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 9.18%.The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be given a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.52%.

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.