Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) SVP Karthik Kuppusamy Sells 8,147 Shares

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,629,400.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,702,000. This represents a 37.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock traded down $3.22 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $197.07. 772,586 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 952,607. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $194.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.59. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $164.65 and a one year high of $213.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.13. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 9.07%.The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, equities research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 10th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to repurchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors 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 yield of 1.7%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is currently 38.01%.

Institutional Trading of Quest Diagnostics

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,392,082 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,497,458,000 after acquiring an additional 140,450 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,382,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $934,033,000 after buying an additional 158,617 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% during the 3rd 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. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,693,568 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $467,415,000 after buying an additional 406,658 shares during the period. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 35.1% during the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,243,869 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $439,753,000 after buying an additional 582,797 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on DGX shares. Weiss Ratings cut Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Evercore set a $225.00 price target on Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.58.

About Quest Diagnostics

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.