EP Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 3,498 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $741,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DGX. Key Financial Inc raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1,728.6% during the 1st quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Quattro Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $236.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction 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 approximately $2,702,000. This trade represents a 37.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total transaction of $1,941,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,708,601.22. The trade was a 7.02% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,747 shares of company stock worth $3,947,088. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of DGX opened at $243.96 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $26.93 billion, a PE ratio of 25.90, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.56. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $171.18 and a 12-month high of $246.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $220.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $205.70.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.30. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 9.18%.The company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.62 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

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.