Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Raises Stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group nearly doubled its position in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter, raising its stake by 91.8% to 41,119 shares worth about $7.1 million.
• Wall Street sentiment is mixed but generally positive: the stock carries a Moderate Buy consensus, with seven Buy ratings and seven Hold ratings, and an average target price of $216.58.
• Quest Diagnostics recently topped quarterly expectations, reporting $2.50 EPS on $2.90 billion in revenue, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.86 per share plus a $1 billion share buyback authorization.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 91.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,119 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 19,683 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $7,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $767,978,000 after purchasing an additional 997,033 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 66,757.0% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 849,752 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $161,946,000 after buying an additional 848,481 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 67.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,114,451 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $193,391,000 after buying an additional 450,161 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 36.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,599,602 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $287,337,000 after buying an additional 426,399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 171.7% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 557,155 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $106,183,000 after buying an additional 352,072 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 5,558 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $1,146,115.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 67,122 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,841,227.62. This represents a 7.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 2,628 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.86, for a total transaction of $538,372.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 13,441 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,753,523.26. This represents a 16.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,919 shares of company stock worth $3,072,899. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of DGX stock opened at $195.23 on Tuesday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $164.65 and a twelve month high of $213.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $194.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $190.66. 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 company has a market capitalization of $21.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.57, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Quest Diagnostics's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.01%.

Quest Diagnostics declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to reacquire up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.

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