Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $15.66 Million Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 58.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 79,920 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,600 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $15,663,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Paradiem LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $13,652,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,517,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 346.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,329,000 after purchasing an additional 19,361 shares during the period. 8 Knots Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 56.0% during the third quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC now owns 275,344 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $52,475,000 after purchasing an additional 98,806 shares during the period. Finally, Davis Selected Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 1,589,883 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $275,895,000 after purchasing an additional 228,271 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Evercore set a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of DGX opened at $215.35 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $197.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $193.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.58. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52-week low of $164.65 and a 52-week high of $217.41.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 38.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,629,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,702,000. This represents a 37.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.