Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX Shares Bought by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,392,082 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 140,450 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of Quest Diagnostics worth $2,497,458,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Paradiem LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $13,652,000. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 117.5% in the third quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,034 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $959,000 after buying an additional 2,720 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the third quarter valued at about $4,713,000. TKG Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 125.1% in the third quarter. TKG Advisors LLC now owns 14,596 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,782,000 after buying an additional 8,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 209.6% in the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 7,765 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,480,000 after buying an additional 5,257 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of DGX stock opened at $189.30 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $199.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $189.61. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $164.65 and a 52 week high of $213.50. The company has a market cap of $20.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.92, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

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

Quest Diagnostics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 10th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to repurchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $214.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 5,558 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $1,146,115.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 67,122 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,841,227.62. The trade was a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 3,878 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $799,682.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 37,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,744,628.97. This represents a 9.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,083 shares of company stock valued at $4,945,262. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

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.