Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. Invests $600,000 in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,061 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Paradiem LLC bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,652,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter valued at $1,517,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 346.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,329,000 after buying an additional 19,361 shares during the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the third quarter worth $2,026,000. Finally, 8 Knots Management LLC boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 56.0% during the third quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC now owns 275,344 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $52,475,000 after buying an additional 98,806 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $25,708,601.22. This trade represents a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,702,000. The trade was a 37.62% 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. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DGX shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

DGX stock opened at $216.23 on Thursday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $164.65 and a twelve month high of $216.87. The firm has a market cap of $23.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.89, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $196.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $193.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.07% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The business’s revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.94 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. Analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.01%.

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.