Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Receives $210.29 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $210.2857.

A number of brokerages have commented on DGX. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Evercore set a $220.00 target price on Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $219.00 price target on Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of DGX stock opened at $197.87 on Tuesday. Quest Diagnostics has a one year low of $157.20 and a one year high of $213.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $197.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.40. The stock has a market cap of $21.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.66.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The medical research company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 15.57%. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.23 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.45-9.650 EPS. Analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 10th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to buy up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 6th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 6th. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is currently 39.31%.

Insider Activity

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 5,662 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total value of $1,155,048.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,381 shares in the company, valued at $3,137,724. The trade was a 26.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 3,878 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $799,682.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 37,557 shares in the company, valued at $7,744,628.97. This represents a 9.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 24,083 shares of company stock valued at $4,945,262. Company insiders own 8.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DGX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter worth about $238,122,000. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $767,978,000 after acquiring an additional 997,033 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 66,757.0% during the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 849,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $161,946,000 after purchasing an additional 848,481 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 67.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,114,451 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $193,391,000 after purchasing an additional 450,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2,531.6% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 450,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $85,932,000 after purchasing an additional 433,764 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

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.