Procyon Advisors LLC Invests $497,000 in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Procyon Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $497,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Quest Diagnostics by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,292 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,960,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Ossiam boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 6.1% during the third quarter. Ossiam now owns 1,059 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $202,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $746,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 4,180 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $725,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.17.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of DGX stock opened at $205.91 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $22.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $199.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.61. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $164.65 and a 12-month high of $219.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 9.07%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is 38.01%.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,629,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares in the company, valued at $2,702,000. This trade represents a 37.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total transaction of $1,941,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

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.