Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 3,166 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,570 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,166 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 0.08% of Quest Diagnostics worth $18,560,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DGX. Archer Investment Corp bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $671,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter valued at $188,000. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,840,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter worth $2,252,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Argus set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.31.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

DGX stock opened at $236.75 on Monday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $171.18 and a twelve month high of $247.19. The firm has a market cap of $26.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $227.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $208.33. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.01%. The business’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.62 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. Analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 6th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.52%.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Mark Delaney sold 1,600 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 10,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,430,585.30. The trade was a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Michael Prevoznik sold 22,677 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.11, for a total value of $5,513,005.47. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 37,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,130,482.27. The trade was a 37.65% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 34,277 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,493. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.