Lazard Asset Management LLC Trims Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Lazard Asset Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 35.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 48,586 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 27,248 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $9,522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Key Financial Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1,728.6% during the first quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Quattro Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on DGX. Evercore set a $225.00 price target on Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $235.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.18, for a total value of $376,288.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 10,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,430,585.30. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares in the company, valued at $2,702,000. The trade was a 37.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 19,747 shares of company stock worth $3,947,088 in the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $235.01 on Thursday. 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 Incorporated has a twelve month low of $166.75 and a twelve month high of $240.13. The stock has a market cap of $25.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $205.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $198.92.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 9.18%.The company’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.62 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

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.