Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. Sells 8,000 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 72.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 8,000 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $521,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of DGX. Boston Partners grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $767,978,000 after purchasing an additional 997,033 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 66,757.0% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 849,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $161,946,000 after purchasing an additional 848,481 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 67.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,114,451 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $193,391,000 after purchasing an additional 450,161 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 36.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,599,602 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $287,337,000 after purchasing an additional 426,399 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 171.7% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 557,155 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $106,183,000 after purchasing an additional 352,072 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Mizuho upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE DGX opened at $190.18 on Wednesday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $164.65 and a one year high of $213.50. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $195.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $190.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Quest Diagnostics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 5,558 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $1,146,115.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 67,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,841,227.62. This represents a 7.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 2,628 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.86, for a total value of $538,372.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 13,441 shares in the company, valued at $2,753,523.26. This represents a 16.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 18,421 shares of company stock worth $3,790,214 over the last quarter. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.