Diversified Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Key Points

• Diversified Management Inc. cut its Quest Diagnostics stake by 79.4% in the second quarter, selling 10,013 shares and retaining 2,596 shares valued at approximately $550,000. Institutional investors collectively own 88.06% of DGX.
• Quest Diagnostics insiders sold 19,747 shares worth about $3.95 million over the past 90 days, including sales by CEO J. E. Davis and SVP Karthik Kuppusamy under pre-arranged trading plans.
• The company reported quarterly earnings of $3.12 per share and revenue of $3.04 billion, exceeding analyst estimates, while revenue increased 10.2% year over year. Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $235.31, and Quest pays an annualized dividend of $3.44 per share.

Diversified Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 79.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,596 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 10,013 shares during the period. Diversified Management Inc.'s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Key Financial Inc boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1,728.6% in the first quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 128 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Quattro Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 492.9% in the 1st quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 166 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the business'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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,708,601.22. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,702,000. This trade represents a 37.62% decrease in their position. 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 have sold a total of 19,747 shares of company stock valued at $3,947,088 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 0.1%

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $237.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.20 billion, a PE ratio of 25.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.56. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $171.18 and a 12 month high of $240.13. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $213.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $202.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

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, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.62 EPS. The business'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, analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 8th. 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on DGX shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Argus set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $235.31.

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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