Legal & General Group Plc Has $128.93 Million Stock Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its Quest Diagnostics stake by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, but still held 742,974 shares valued at about $128.9 million.
• Quest Diagnostics reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.50 and revenue of $2.90 billion, both beating analyst expectations. Revenue also rose 9.2% year over year.
• The company continues to return cash to shareholders through a quarterly dividend of $0.86 per share and a $1 billion stock buyback program, while analysts remain split with an overall Moderate Buy rating.

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 742,974 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 12,701 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.67% of Quest Diagnostics worth $128,928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $323,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 4.6% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at approximately $287,000. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 7.2% in the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 14,339 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 17.1% in the second 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 in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DGX. Mizuho raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $196.67 on Friday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $194.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $191.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 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. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

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

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

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

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

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 3,878 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $799,682.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 37,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,744,628.97. The trade was a 9.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 2,628 shares of Quest Diagnostics 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,753,523.26. This represents a 16.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,919 shares of company stock worth $3,072,899. Insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

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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