Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on DGX. Evercore ISI set a $220.00 target price on Quest Diagnostics in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Leerink Partners raised their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $203.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.93.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of DGX stock opened at $206.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $22.99 billion, a PE ratio of 23.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $183.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $182.88. Quest Diagnostics has a 52 week low of $157.20 and a 52 week high of $213.20.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The medical research company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.07. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 15.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.45-9.650 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to purchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Investors of record on Monday, April 6th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. This is a boost from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 6th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 55,093 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.22, for a total transaction of $10,589,976.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 120,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,158,665.60. This trade represents a 31.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 5,662 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total value of $1,155,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 15,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,137,724. This trade represents a 26.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 62,005 shares of company stock valued at $11,984,724 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 8.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DGX. Norges Bank bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter worth about $238,122,000. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 997,033 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 66,757.0% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 849,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $161,946,000 after buying an additional 848,481 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 256.5% in the 2nd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 1,072,721 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $193,090,000 after acquiring an additional 771,824 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 67.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,114,451 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $193,391,000 after acquiring an additional 450,161 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.