Ascent Group LLC Purchases New Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC acquired 9,285 shares of Quest Diagnostics, valued at approximately $1,571,000, as per their recent SEC filing.
• Quest Diagnostics reported Q2 earnings of $2.62 per share, beating analysts' expectations and showing a year-over-year revenue increase of 15.2%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.80 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.8%, payable on October 20th.

Ascent Group LLC bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,285 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $1,571,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter worth about $1,228,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 76.6% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 189 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 9.5% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 18,010 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,047,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.2% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 7,081 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,198,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 10.2% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 14,577 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,439,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on DGX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $176.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 18th. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and set a $194.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Monday, August 25th. Baird R W cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $186.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 5,535 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $968,625.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 19,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,363,325. This trade represents a 22.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,269 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.40, for a total transaction of $1,384,230.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 10,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,784,484. The trade was a 43.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,496 shares of company stock worth $4,278,787 in the last 90 days. 8.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 0.3%

DGX stock traded down $0.60 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $182.86. The company had a trading volume of 454,078 shares, compared to its average volume of 706,769. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1 year low of $146.17 and a 1 year high of $185.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $20.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.90, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a 50 day moving average of $175.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.72.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.05. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.35 EPS. The company's revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 9.630-9.830 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Quest Diagnostics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.32%.

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.