Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX Shares Purchased by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 61.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,050 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 6,892 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $3,440,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. G&S Capital LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter worth approximately $1,262,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2,531.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 450,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $85,932,000 after purchasing an additional 433,764 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 3rd quarter worth $1,452,000. Ethic Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 144.2% in the third quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 14,424 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after buying an additional 8,518 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 88.6% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 24,167 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,341,000 after buying an additional 11,351 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on DGX. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $197.27.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

DGX stock opened at $175.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.61. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $148.70 and a 52 week high of $197.55. The stock has a market cap of $19.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.13.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The medical research company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The company’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 9.760-9.840 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 13th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 13th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.56%.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 55,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.22, for a total value of $10,589,976.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 120,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,158,665.60. The trade was a 31.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 7,946 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.35, for a total transaction of $1,488,683.10. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,410,745.50. The trade was a 51.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 65,771 shares of company stock valued at $12,588,676. 8.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Quest Diagnostics 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.