Zacks Research Issues Optimistic Forecast for DGX Earnings

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research raised their Q4 2026 earnings estimates for shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report issued on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research analyst Team now expects that the medical research company will post earnings per share of $2.58 for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $2.47. The consensus estimate for Quest Diagnostics’ current full-year earnings is $9.70 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Quest Diagnostics’ Q1 2027 earnings at $2.54 EPS.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The medical research company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.45-9.650 EPS.

DGX has been the subject of several other research reports. Truist Financial raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.29.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE DGX opened at $208.13 on Wednesday. Quest Diagnostics has a 1-year low of $157.20 and a 1-year high of $213.50. The company has a market capitalization of $22.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.79, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $189.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.31. 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 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is a boost from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 6th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is 36.57%.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 1,433 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.83, for a total value of $293,521.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 68,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,010,781.66. The trade was a 2.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 1,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.83, for a total transaction of $227,566.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 38,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,859,531.93. This trade represents a 2.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,164 shares of company stock worth $1,872,363. 8.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Quest Diagnostics

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,392,082 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,497,458,000 after buying an additional 140,450 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,382,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $934,033,000 after acquiring an additional 158,617 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake 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 valued at $767,978,000 after acquiring an additional 997,033 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 208,261 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,693,568 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $467,415,000 after acquiring an additional 406,658 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Quest Diagnostics News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Quest Diagnostics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research raised multiple near? and multi?year EPS forecasts for Quest, lifting FY2026 to $10.57 (from $10.26), FY2027 to $11.42 (from $11.21) and FY2028 to $12.54, and increasing several quarterly estimates (Q1?26 $2.37, Q2?26 $2.84, Q3?26 $2.79, Q2?27 $2.92, Q3?27 $2.90, Q4?27 $3.06). The revisions signal stronger expected earnings power versus prior guidance and consensus. Zacks Research Estimate Revisions
• Neutral Sentiment: Quest announced “Quest AI Companion,” an AI chat feature (built with Google’s Gemini) to help patients and providers interpret up to five years of lab data. This could improve patient engagement and differentiation over time but is unlikely to materially affect near?term revenue/earnings. Quest AI Companion Release

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.