Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Takes Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 3,663 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $779,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Key Financial Inc boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Quattro Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 492.9% in the first quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 166 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DGX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Argus set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.31.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $244.59 on Wednesday. The firm 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 Incorporated has a one year low of $171.18 and a one year high of $246.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $221.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.59.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.18, for a total transaction of $376,288.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 10,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,430,585.30. This represents a 13.41% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 19,747 shares of company stock worth $3,947,088. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.