Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $220.73.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of DGX opened at $211.12 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.58. Quest Diagnostics has a 52 week low of $165.78 and a 52 week high of $219.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $201.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $196.99. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics will post 10.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is 38.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,702,000. This trade represents a 37.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DGX. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,292 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,960,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Ossiam boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ossiam now owns 1,059 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $202,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $746,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 4,180 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $725,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.