Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX Shares Purchased by UBS Group AG

Key Points

• UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 67.8% in Q4, buying 450,161 shares to hold 1,114,451 shares (about 1.00% of the company) valued at roughly $193.4 million.
• Quest beat quarterly expectations with $2.50 EPS (vs. $2.37 est.) and $2.90B revenue (+9.2% YoY), set FY2026 guidance of $10.63–$10.83 EPS, and approved a $1.00 billion share buyback while raising the quarterly dividend to $0.86.
• Corporate insiders have been net sellers recently, offloading 24,083 shares (~$4.95M) over the past three months—insider ownership stands at about 0.88%, including notable sales by the EVP and SVP.

UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 67.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,114,451 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 450,161 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG owned 1.00% of Quest Diagnostics worth $193,391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 4.5% during the third quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,275 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,292 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,960,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,232 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $807,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Ossiam grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 6.1% during the third quarter. Ossiam now owns 1,059 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $202,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 14.9% during the third quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 517 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 5,558 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 67,122 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,841,227.62. The trade was a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 2,628 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,753,523.26. The trade was a 16.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 24,083 shares of company stock valued at $4,945,262. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of DGX stock opened at $189.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $20.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $164.65 and a fifty-two week high of $213.50. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $199.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $189.61.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.83 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.07% and a return on equity of 15.60%. Quest Diagnostics's revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.71 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 10th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to repurchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Evercore set a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $214.54.

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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