Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Quest Diagnostics has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, with 7 analysts calling it a buy and 7 a hold. The average 12-month price target among recently updated firms is about $216.58.
• The company recently posted better-than-expected quarterly results, reporting EPS of $2.50 versus estimates of $2.37 and revenue of $2.90 billion versus $2.83 billion expected. Revenue rose 9.2% year over year, and management set FY 2026 EPS guidance at $10.63 to $10.83.
• Quest Diagnostics also highlighted shareholder returns through a quarterly dividend of $0.86 and a new $1 billion share repurchase authorization. Meanwhile, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares in a pre-arranged transaction, and institutional investors continue to hold the vast majority of the stock.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $216.5833.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore set a $225.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price 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 cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total value of $1,941,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DGX. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $323,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew 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 during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at about $287,000. Bank of Nova Scotia grew 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 during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company's stock.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $200.74 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $194.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $191.33. Quest Diagnostics has a 1 year low of $164.65 and a 1 year high of $213.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.18.

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

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

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

Quest Diagnostics announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to purchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.