California State Teachers Retirement System Has $31.80 Million Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

California State Teachers Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 162,238 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,763 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $31,795,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 35.1% during the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,243,869 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $439,753,000 after acquiring an additional 582,797 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.3% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 91,034 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $17,841,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter valued at $493,000. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter valued at $215,000. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 642.8% in the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 11,640 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,281,000 after purchasing an additional 10,073 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DGX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $236.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Evercore set a $225.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $235.31.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of DGX stock opened at $233.21 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $207.36 and its 200-day moving average is $199.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.74 billion, a PE ratio of 24.76, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.58. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $166.76 and a 52 week high of $240.13.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.30. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 9.18%.The company had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.62 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total value of $1,941,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,629,400.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares in the company, valued at $2,702,000. The trade was a 37.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 19,747 shares of company stock valued at $3,947,088. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

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.