Legal & General Group Plc Invests $151.99 Million in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 717,085 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $151,986,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.65% of Quest Diagnostics as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,392,082 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,497,458,000 after acquiring an additional 140,450 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,965,923,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,382,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $934,033,000 after purchasing an additional 158,617 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $767,978,000 after purchasing an additional 997,033 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,693,568 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $467,415,000 after purchasing an additional 406,658 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DGX has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Mizuho increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.31.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

DGX opened at $244.48 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $171.18 and a twelve month high of $247.19. The firm has a market cap of $26.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.95, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $223.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $206.84.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.62 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be given a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,629,400.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. 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 dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total value of $1,941,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,708,601.22. This 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 19,747 shares of company stock worth $3,947,088. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.