Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.80

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 14th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.80 per share by the medical research company on Monday, July 21st. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%.

Quest Diagnostics has increased its dividend payment by an average of 6.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Quest Diagnostics has a dividend payout ratio of 30.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Quest Diagnostics to earn $10.49 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.5%.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE:DGX opened at $172.27 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.40, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. Quest Diagnostics has a 12 month low of $135.47 and a 12 month high of $179.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $169.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $163.25.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.06. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 8.80%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.63 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 535 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.71, for a total transaction of $90,794.85. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 71,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,109,826.76. This trade represents a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.99, for a total value of $103,277.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,813,096.55. The trade was a 1.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,124 shares of company stock valued at $9,341,875 in the last 90 days. 8.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics stock. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,144 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $323,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $191.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $182.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.73.

Quest Diagnostics Company Profile

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated provides diagnostic testing and services in the United States and internationally. The company develops and delivers diagnostic information services, such as routine, non-routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic information services.