Savant Capital LLC Sells 9,256 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Savant Capital LLC reduced its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 73.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,283 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 9,256 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DGX. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 114.3% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 113.7% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 156 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 66.1% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on DGX. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

DGX stock opened at $194.17 on Thursday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $164.65 and a 12 month high of $213.50. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $194.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.20. The stock has a market cap of $21.50 billion, a PE ratio of 21.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.59.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. 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 currently 38.01%.

Quest Diagnostics announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to repurchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,708,601.22. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

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.