Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Quest Diagnostics has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating from 14 analysts, split evenly between hold and buy recommendations. The average 1-year price target is about $216.58.
• The company’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $2.50 versus $2.37 expected and revenue of $2.90 billion versus $2.83 billion forecast. Revenue rose 9.2% year over year, and the company raised its FY2026 EPS guidance to $10.63-$10.83.
• Recent insider activity included stock sales by CEO J. E. Davis and SVP Karthik Kuppusamy. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.86 per share, payable July 22, for an annualized yield of about 1.6%.

Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $216.5833.

Several research firms have weighed in on DGX. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings lowered Quest Diagnostics from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Quest Diagnostics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,629,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,510 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,702,000. The trade was a 37.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total transaction of $1,941,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This trade represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Quest Diagnostics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of DGX. Key Financial Inc lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 1,728.6% during the 1st quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 128 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Quattro Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 114.3% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 113.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 156 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of DGX opened at $216.23 on Thursday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $196.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $193.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.58. Quest Diagnostics has a 1-year low of $164.65 and a 1-year high of $216.87. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.83 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 9.07%.Quest Diagnostics's revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. Analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics will post 10.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be paid a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Quest Diagnostics's payout ratio is presently 38.01%.

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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