Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Quest Diagnostics from “hold” to “buy,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “Moderate Buy” with a target price of $231.73.
• Quest Diagnostics opened at $231.56, near its 12-month high of $237.78, with a market capitalization of $25.63 billion.
• The company beat quarterly expectations with earnings of $3.12 per share versus $2.82 expected, while revenue rose 10.2% year over year to $3.04 billion.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $231.73.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

NYSE:DGX opened at $231.56 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $204.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $198.12. The company has a market capitalization of $25.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.58. Quest Diagnostics has a twelve month low of $165.78 and a twelve month high of $237.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.30. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.01%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.62 EPS. The company's revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics will post 11.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of Quest Diagnostics 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 owned 132,423 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,708,601.22. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DGX. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter worth $229,522,000. Boston Partners grew its position in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $767,978,000 after acquiring an additional 997,033 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in Quest Diagnostics by 95.5% during the fourth quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,661,072 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $288,246,000 after acquiring an additional 811,320 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 67.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,114,451 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $193,391,000 after acquiring an additional 450,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 36.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,599,602 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $287,337,000 after purchasing an additional 426,399 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company's stock.

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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