Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Price Target Raised to $250.00

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) had its price objective raised by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $220.00 to $250.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the medical research company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 4.41% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $233.25.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DGX traded up $7.60 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $239.44. 90,278 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 965,916. The company has a market cap of $26.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.36, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $204.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $198.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.59. Quest Diagnostics has a twelve month low of $166.75 and a twelve month high of $239.54.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 9.18%.Quest Diagnostics’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.62 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics will post 11.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 13,510 shares in the company, valued at $2,702,000. This trade represents a 37.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Quest Diagnostics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DGX. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth about $323,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $287,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 7.2% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 14,339 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,576,000 after buying an additional 962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 17.1% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,599 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,341,000 after buying an additional 2,718 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Quest Diagnostics

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.