State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Purchases 2,580 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 37,272 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,580 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $7,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DGX. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 369.7% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 155 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 18,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 185 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE DGX opened at $205.46 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.86 billion, a PE ratio of 23.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $184.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $183.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $157.20 and a 12 month high of $213.20.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The medical research company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.07. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 8.99%.The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.45-9.650 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

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

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 6th will be paid a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 6th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is currently 36.57%.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 5,662 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 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, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.76, for a total value of $239,700.00. Following the sale, the director owned 17,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,267,015.12. The trade was a 6.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 62,005 shares of company stock worth $11,984,724 over the last three months. 8.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DGX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Evercore set a $220.00 price target on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $207.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.29.

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.