Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Raises Stock Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 12.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,496 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,395 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $6,173,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter valued at $229,522,000. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $767,978,000 after buying an additional 997,033 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 95.5% during the fourth quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,661,072 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $288,246,000 after buying an additional 811,320 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its position in 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 buying an additional 450,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 36.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,599,602 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $287,337,000 after acquiring an additional 426,399 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 13,510 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,702,000. This represents 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. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

DGX opened at $210.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.30, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $200.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $196.13. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $165.30 and a 12-month high of $219.20.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 38.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DGX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $232.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.17.

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.