Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab Invests $2.26 Million in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Key Points

• Danica Pension acquired 10,653 Quest Diagnostics shares worth approximately $2.26 million during the second quarter, while institutional investors overall own 88.06% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.31; several firms recently raised their targets to as high as $260.
• Quest Diagnostics exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $3.12 in EPS and $3.04 billion in revenue. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.86 per share, equivalent to a 1.5% yield.

Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 10,653 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $2,258,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter valued at about $323,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 4.6% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter worth about $287,000. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 14,339 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,599 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,718 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DGX shares. Argus set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics 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 transaction of $1,629,400.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,510 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,702,000. The trade was a 37.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 1,600 shares of Quest Diagnostics 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 10,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,430,585.30. The trade was a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 19,747 shares of company stock worth $3,947,088 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $236.71 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $171.18 and a 12-month high of $240.13. The company has a market cap of $26.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.56. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $217.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $204.06.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.97 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.01%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.62 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

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

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.

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.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source