J. Davis Sells 10,000 Shares of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) CEO J. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.72, for a total transaction of $2,427,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 122,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,714,510.56. This trade represents a 7.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE DGX opened at $236.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $227.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $171.18 and a 52 week high of $247.19.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.30. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.01%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.62 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DGX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings raised Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $236.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.31.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 22,733.0% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 37,043,773 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,851,428,000 after buying an additional 36,881,535 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,965,923,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,382,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $934,033,000 after acquiring an additional 158,617 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $767,978,000 after purchasing an additional 997,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,693,568 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $467,415,000 after purchasing an additional 406,658 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.06% 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.