Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $116.39 Million Stock Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon cut its Quest Diagnostics stake by 18.4% in the fourth quarter, but still held 670,741 shares worth about $116.4 million at quarter-end.
• Quest Diagnostics reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.50 beating estimates and revenue of $2.90 billion topping expectations; revenue rose 9.2% year over year.
• The company is returning capital to shareholders through a $1 billion share buyback and a quarterly dividend of $0.86 per share, implying a 1.7% yield.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 18.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 670,741 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 150,839 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.60% of Quest Diagnostics worth $116,394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Paradiem LLC bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter valued at about $13,652,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth about $1,517,000. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 209.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 7,765 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,480,000 after acquiring an additional 5,257 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 346.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,949 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $4,329,000 after acquiring an additional 19,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,757,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction of $1,941,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,423 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This trade represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DGX. Mizuho upped their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE DGX opened at $200.74 on Monday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $164.65 and a twelve month high of $213.50. The stock has a market cap of $22.22 billion, a PE ratio of 22.18, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.18.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.83 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 9.07%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to purchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics's payout ratio is 38.01%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding DGX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.