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 the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total transaction 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 represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.4%

Quest Diagnostics stock traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $192.93. The company had a trading volume of 678,310 shares, compared to its average volume of 960,662. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $194.42 and its 200-day moving average is $191.11. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $164.65 and a fifty-two week high of $213.50.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.07% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.01%.

Quest Diagnostics announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 10th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to purchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DGX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. 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 report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.58.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DGX. Key Financial Inc lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 1,728.6% during the 1st 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 acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 114.3% during the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 113.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 156 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Institutional investors own 88.06% 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.