Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,969 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $841,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Key Financial Inc raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1,728.6% in the 1st quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Quattro Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of Quest Diagnostics 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 owned 13,510 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,702,000. This trade represents a 37.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.18, for a total value 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 $2,430,585.30. This trade represents a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 19,747 shares of company stock valued at $3,947,088 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE DGX opened at $244.78 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $171.18 and a 12 month high of $246.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $222.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $206.46.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 6th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DGX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. UBS Group upped their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.31.

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.