Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $235.3077.

DGX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,510 shares in the company, valued at $2,702,000. This represents a 37.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through 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 in the company, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This trade represents a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders sold 19,747 shares of company stock worth $3,947,088 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DGX. Key Financial Inc increased its position 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 worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Quattro Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

NYSE DGX opened at $244.59 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $221.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Quest Diagnostics has a twelve month low of $171.18 and a twelve month high of $246.00. The company has a market capitalization of $27.00 billion, a PE ratio of 25.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.56.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

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

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.