Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases 102,159 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 22.9%, now holding approximately $92.93 million worth of shares.
• Wall Street analysts have set a consensus price target of $186.00 for Quest Diagnostics, with varying ratings from strong buy to hold.
• Quest Diagnostics announced a quarterly dividend of $0.80 per share, representing a 1.8% dividend yield and a payout ratio of 38.32%.

Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Free Report) by 22.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 549,242 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 102,159 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.49% of Quest Diagnostics worth $92,932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the first quarter worth about $388,724,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,490,278 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $828,265,000 after purchasing an additional 1,637,525 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 23,296.2% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the first quarter worth about $55,587,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth about $33,698,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.8%

DGX traded down $1.4950 during trading on Monday, reaching $178.7350. The company had a trading volume of 753,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 890,183. The stock has a market cap of $19.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.41, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.67. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $146.17 and a 52 week high of $185.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

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

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. Quest Diagnostics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on DGX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen cut Quest Diagnostics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 10th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $186.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 2,210 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $375,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,450 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,436,500. The trade was a 20.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 1,975 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.00, for a total value of $365,375.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 15,269 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,824,765. This trade represents a 11.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,496 shares of company stock valued at $4,278,787 over the last three months. 8.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Quest Diagnostics

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.