Insider Selling: Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) CEO Sells $2,427,200.00 in Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) CEO J. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.72, for a total value of $2,427,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 122,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,714,510.56. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

NYSE DGX opened at $236.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $227.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.31. The company has a market cap of $26.13 billion, a PE ratio of 25.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.55. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1-year low of $171.18 and a 1-year high of $247.19.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be given a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 6th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on DGX shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.31.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 22,733.0% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 37,043,773 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,851,428,000 after purchasing an additional 36,881,535 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,965,923,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 158,617 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 997,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position 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 buying an additional 406,658 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.