Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 26,233 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 296.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,096 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 26,233 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $6,878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter worth about $229,522,000. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $767,978,000 after buying an additional 997,033 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 95.5% during the 4th quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,661,072 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $288,246,000 after buying an additional 811,320 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased 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 worth $193,391,000 after acquiring an additional 450,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 36.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,599,602 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $287,337,000 after acquiring an additional 426,399 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total transaction of $1,941,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,629,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,510 shares in the company, valued at $2,702,000. This trade represents a 37.62% 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. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

NYSE:DGX opened at $209.34 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.17 billion, a PE ratio of 23.13, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $200.05 and its 200 day moving average is $196.02. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $165.19 and a fifty-two week high of $219.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.18.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.13. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.07% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.94 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics’s quarterly revenue 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is currently 38.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.17.

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.