Cornerstone Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Cornerstone Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 47,208 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,006,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,965,923,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $229,522,000. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 997,033 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 95.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 811,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at approximately $133,388,000. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the company’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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.18, for a total transaction of $376,288.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 10,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,430,585.30. This trade represents a 13.41% 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 have sold 19,747 shares of company stock valued at $3,947,088 in the last 90 days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on DGX shares. Mizuho upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings raised Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.31.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $235.20 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $216.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $203.68. The stock has a market cap of $25.96 billion, a PE ratio of 24.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $171.18 and a 12 month high of $240.13.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 prior year, the firm posted $2.62 earnings per share. The company’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. Research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 6th. 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.