Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) SVP Sells $196,227.14 in Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) SVP Patrick Plewman sold 958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.83, for a total transaction of $196,227.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 15,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,244,097.54. This trade represents a 5.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Patrick Plewman also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, February 10th, Patrick Plewman sold 5,662 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total transaction of $1,155,048.00.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:DGX traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $202.28. 642,021 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,114,915. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $157.20 and a one year high of $213.20. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $183.41.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The medical research company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.07. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 8.99%.The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.23 EPS. The business’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. Sell-side analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 6th will be paid a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 6th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.57%.

Institutional Trading of Quest Diagnostics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,392,082 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,497,458,000 after purchasing an additional 140,450 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,382,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $934,033,000 after purchasing an additional 158,617 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $767,978,000 after buying an additional 997,033 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 7.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,982,415 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $533,563,000 after buying an additional 208,261 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 406,658 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DGX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Robert W. Baird set a $219.00 price target on Quest Diagnostics in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.29.

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.