629,339 Shares in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX Purchased by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon acquired 629,339 Quest Diagnostics shares worth approximately $133.4 million, giving it a 0.57% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 88.06% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with Quest Diagnostics carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $235.31; several firms recently raised their targets.
• Quest Diagnostics exceeded quarterly expectations with $3.12 in EPS and $3.04 billion in revenue, up 10.2% year over year. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.86 per share, representing a 1.4% annualized yield.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 629,339 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $133,388,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.57% of Quest Diagnostics at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Key Financial Inc boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Quattro Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $236.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. One research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.31.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE:DGX opened at $244.34 on Monday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $219.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $205.29. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $171.18 and a 52 week high of $245.68. The company has a market capitalization of $26.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.56. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.62 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter 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, research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 6th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Quest Diagnostics's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,629,400.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction 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, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total value of $1,941,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This trade represents a 7.02% 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 19,747 shares of company stock valued at $3,947,088 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Company 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.

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