Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 493,960 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 9.0%, acquiring an additional 493,960 shares, bringing their total ownership to approximately 5.36% valued at over $1 billion.
• Multiple hedge funds, including Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC and Continuum Advisory LLC, have significantly increased their stakes in Quest Diagnostics during the first quarter.
• Quest Diagnostics announced a quarterly dividend of $0.80 per share, representing a 1.7% yield, with the payment scheduled for October 20th.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 9.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,984,238 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 493,960 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 5.36% of Quest Diagnostics worth $1,012,534,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DGX. Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter worth $388,724,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 23,296.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 444,996 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $75,293,000 after purchasing an additional 443,094 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter worth approximately $55,587,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,698,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Quest Diagnostics by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,196,429 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $180,493,000 after buying an additional 188,402 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DGX. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Evercore ISI set a $185.00 price target on Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $186.00.

Insider Activity

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 4,532 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.00, for a total transaction of $829,356.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 17,244 shares in the company, valued at $3,155,652. This represents a 20.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 2,210 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $375,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 8,450 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,436,500. This trade represents a 20.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,521 shares of company stock worth $3,913,412 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 8.16% of the company's stock.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of DGX traded down $3.62 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $180.10. 947,753 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 890,183. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $20.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.57, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.46. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $146.17 and a 52 week high of $185.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $175.09 and a 200-day moving average of $172.56.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.05. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 9.01%.The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.35 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 9.630-9.830 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Quest Diagnostics's payout ratio is 38.32%.

Quest Diagnostics Company Profile

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated provides diagnostic testing and services in the United States and internationally. The company develops and delivers diagnostic information services, such as routine, non-routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic information services.