Breakwater Capital Group Buys New Stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Breakwater Capital Group acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 5,480 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,074,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quattro Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 114.3% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 113.7% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 156 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of DGX opened at $203.57 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $195.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $164.65 and a twelve month high of $213.50.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on DGX. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the firm’s 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s 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 owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This trade represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.