Maple Capital Management Inc. Purchases New Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Maple Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,070 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $533,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Boston Partners boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 997,033 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $161,946,000 after acquiring an additional 848,481 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 67.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,114,451 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $193,391,000 after acquiring an additional 450,161 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 36.3% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,599,602 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $287,337,000 after acquiring an additional 426,399 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 171.7% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 557,155 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $106,183,000 after acquiring an additional 352,072 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DGX opened at $189.04 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $198.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $189.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.60. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $164.65 and a 52 week high of $213.50.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.13. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.07% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.94 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 6th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 6th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is an increase from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 38.01%.

Quest Diagnostics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 10th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to buy up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Quest Diagnostics news, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 5,558 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 3,878 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $799,682.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 37,557 shares in the company, valued at $7,744,628.97. This trade represents a 9.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 24,083 shares of company stock valued at $4,945,262 over the last ninety days. 0.88% 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.