Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Price Target Increased to $146.00 by Analysts at UBS Group

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) had its target price hoisted by UBS Group from $139.00 to $146.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the medical research company’s stock.

DGX has been the topic of several other research reports. TheStreet lowered Quest Diagnostics from a b- rating to a c rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded Quest Diagnostics from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Leerink Partnrs reissued a market perform rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, SVB Leerink began coverage on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They issued a market perform rating and a $135.00 price objective for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $146.17.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DGX opened at $134.26 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $129.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.23. The firm has a market cap of $14.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.91. Quest Diagnostics has a 52 week low of $119.59 and a 52 week high of $146.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.18. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.04 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics will post 8.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, April 8th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a boost from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 5th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 38.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 661 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.14, for a total value of $83,378.54. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,206 shares in the company, valued at $5,071,584.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 661 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.14, for a total transaction of $83,378.54. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,206 shares in the company, valued at $5,071,584.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 5,611 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total value of $706,312.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,843,610.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 15,150 shares of company stock worth $1,913,202. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 19,692 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,715,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 1,296 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $179,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 1.9% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,417 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $538,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Montecito Bank & Trust lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 1,909 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Naples Global Advisors LLC lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 6,171 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $851,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated provides diagnostic testing and services in the United States and internationally. The company develops and delivers diagnostic information services, such as routine, non-routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic information services.