J. Davis Sells 10,000 Shares of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) CEO J. Davis sold 10,000 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.72, for a total value of $2,427,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 122,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,714,510.56. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE DGX traded down $1.20 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $239.60. The company had a trading volume of 1,043,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 955,444. The stock has a market cap of $26.44 billion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.55. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $171.18 and a one year high of $247.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $226.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 9.18%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm 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 year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DGX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Argus set a $260.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.31.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 22,733.0% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 37,043,773 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,851,428,000 after purchasing an additional 36,881,535 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter valued at about $1,965,923,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter worth about $410,151,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter worth about $229,522,000. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $767,978,000 after buying an additional 997,033 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.