Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Purchases 8,924 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Key Points

• Generali Asset Management increased its Quest Diagnostics stake by 81.1% in the fourth quarter, buying 8,924 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 19,922 shares worth about $3.46 million.
• Quest Diagnostics reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.50 and revenue of $2.90 billion, both above analyst expectations, while revenue rose 9.2% year over year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.86 per share and has a $1 billion stock buyback authorization in place, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Moderate Buy.

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR grew its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 81.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,922 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 8,924 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR's holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $3,457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $767,978,000 after acquiring an additional 997,033 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 66,757.0% during the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 849,752 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $161,946,000 after purchasing an additional 848,481 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 67.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,114,451 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $193,391,000 after purchasing an additional 450,161 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 36.3% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,599,602 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $287,337,000 after purchasing an additional 426,399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 171.7% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 557,155 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $106,183,000 after purchasing an additional 352,072 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 2,628 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.86, for a total transaction of $538,372.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 13,441 shares in the company, valued at $2,753,523.26. The trade was a 16.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 2,855 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $588,729.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 15,198 shares in the company, valued at $3,133,979.58. This represents a 15.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 24,083 shares of company stock worth $4,945,262 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on DGX. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DGX opened at $187.43 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $198.21 and a 200 day moving average of $189.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $20.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.60. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $164.65 and a 12 month high of $213.50.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last announced 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 the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.07% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to repurchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Investors of record on Monday, April 6th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 6th. Quest Diagnostics's dividend payout ratio is 38.01%.

About Quest Diagnostics

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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