Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX Shares Sold by Sit Investment Associates Inc.

Sit Investment Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 61.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,615 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 29,183 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $3,230,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,392,082 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,497,458,000 after purchasing an additional 140,450 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,382,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $934,033,000 after purchasing an additional 158,617 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,693,568 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $467,415,000 after buying an additional 406,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,931,548 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $335,204,000 after buying an additional 24,038 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore set a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $194.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.18. The company has a market capitalization of $21.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.52, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.59. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1 year low of $164.65 and a 1 year high of $213.50. The company’s fifty day moving average is $194.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.13.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 38.01%.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total value of $1,941,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,708,601.22. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.