Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Short Interest Update

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,551,568 shares, a decline of 14.9% from the March 31st total of 4,174,813 shares. Currently, 3.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 771,838 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 2,628 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.86, for a total transaction of $538,372.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,753,523.26. The trade was a 16.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,083 shares of company stock worth $4,945,262. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Key Financial Inc raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1,728.6% in the first quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Quattro Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 114.3% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 113.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 156 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on DGX. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $214.54.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DGX opened at $192.50 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $189.69. Quest Diagnostics has a one year low of $164.65 and a one year high of $213.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.27, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.60.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics will post 10.71 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 10th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to repurchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 6th were issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 dividend yield of 1.8%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.01%.

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.