Royal Bank of Canada Has $38.91 Million Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 13.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 198,534 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 30,197 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $38,909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DGX. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 35.1% in the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,243,869 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $439,753,000 after buying an additional 582,797 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 91,034 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $17,841,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter worth $493,000. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter worth $215,000. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 642.8% during the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 11,640 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,281,000 after purchasing an additional 10,073 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DGX. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Argus set a $260.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Mizuho upped their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Evercore set a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $235.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,702,000. This trade represents a 37.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total transaction of $1,941,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 19,747 shares of company stock worth $3,947,088 over the last quarter. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

DGX opened at $231.95 on Tuesday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52-week low of $170.53 and a 52-week high of $240.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.60 billion, a PE ratio of 24.62, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.59. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $208.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $200.12.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.62 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue 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, sell-side analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were paid a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.52%.

Quest Diagnostics 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.