Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) EVP Catherine Doherty Sells 5,558 Shares of Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) EVP Catherine Doherty sold 5,558 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $1,146,115.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 67,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,841,227.62. The trade was a 7.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

NYSE:DGX opened at $199.37 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $191.66 and its 200 day moving average is $185.74. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $157.20 and a 12 month high of $213.50. The company has a market capitalization of $21.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.79, a P/E/G 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 (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The medical research company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.07. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 8.99%.The business had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.45-9.650 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, February 10th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 140,450 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position 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 valued at $934,033,000 after acquiring an additional 158,617 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $767,978,000 after purchasing an additional 997,033 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 7.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,982,415 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $533,563,000 after purchasing an additional 208,261 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,693,568 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $467,415,000 after purchasing an additional 406,658 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DGX. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.29.

Quest Diagnostics News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research expects higher Q4/near-term earnings for Quest, which supports the company’s fundamentals and could be a near-term tailwind if results and guidance confirm those estimates. Zacks Research Expects Higher Earnings for Quest Diagnostics
• Neutral Sentiment: Equity analysts have set/updated expectations for DGX Q4 earnings (consensus estimates being monitored ahead of the print); this keeps focus on results and guide as the primary near-term catalysts. Equities Analysts Set Expectations for DGX Q4 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Options traders are driving implied volatility higher on DGX, indicating the market is pricing a larger-than-normal move around upcoming news (increases trading costs and can amplify share moves in either direction). Implied Volatility Surging for Quest Diagnostics Stock Options
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple senior executives completed sizable stock sales this week (SVPs and an EVP sold shares at ~ $204–$206 each). Combined disclosed sales total roughly $3.07M and represented single-digit to mid-teens percentage reductions in holdings — a negative signal that likely pressured the stock given concentration of selling among insiders. SEC Filing (Form 4) — Karthik Kuppusamy

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.