Deutsche Bank AG Buys New Stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 585,895 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $124,180,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Key Financial Inc increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1,728.6% during the first quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Quattro Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,702,000. This represents a 37.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was 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 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,747 shares of company stock worth $3,947,088. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DGX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.31.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

DGX opened at $241.78 on Thursday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $171.18 and a 12-month high of $242.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $217.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.48. The company has a market capitalization of $26.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.67, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be given a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.52%.

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.