Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Stock Now Rated "Moderate Buy" by Wall Street Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate Quest Diagnostics a “Moderate Buy”: Five analysts recommend buying the stock, one gives a strong-buy rating, and six rate it a hold. The average 12-month price target is $237.85.
• Quest Diagnostics exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $3.12 in adjusted earnings per share versus the $2.82 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 10.2% year over year to $3.04 billion.
• Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s shares, while insiders sold $8.32 million worth of stock over the past three months. Quest also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.86 per share, representing a 1.5% annualized yield.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $237.85.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on DGX shares. Mizuho lifted their price objective 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. Argus set a $260.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 21st.

Insider Activity

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 22,677 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.11, for a total transaction of $5,513,005.47. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 37,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,130,482.27. The trade was a 37.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.72, for a total transaction of $2,427,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 122,423 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,714,510.56. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 34,277 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,493 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter worth $1,965,923,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 35.1% in the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,243,869 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $439,753,000 after purchasing an additional 582,797 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,949,535 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $382,085,000 after purchasing an additional 17,987 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter worth $410,151,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Quest Diagnostics by 11.3% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 942,407 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $199,743,000 after buying an additional 95,804 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.1%

DGX opened at $231.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.59. The company has a market capitalization of $25.50 billion, a PE ratio of 24.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.54. The stock's fifty day moving average is $237.55 and its 200-day moving average is $214.02. Quest Diagnostics has a one year low of $171.18 and a one year high of $248.84.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) 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. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 9.18%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.62 earnings per share. The company's quarterly 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. On average, equities analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics will post 11.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

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

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated NYSE: DGX is a provider of diagnostic information services. The company performs laboratory testing that helps physicians, hospitals, health plans, employers and other organizations diagnose, monitor and manage medical conditions.

Its services include routine blood and other clinical laboratory tests, advanced and molecular diagnostics, anatomic pathology, genetic and genomic testing, and testing related to infectious diseases. Quest also provides employer health screening, drug testing, clinical trial support and laboratory information services.

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