Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX Shares Sold by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC cut its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 25.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,393 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,546 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $2,036,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DGX. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter valued at about $323,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 4.6% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at about $287,000. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 14,339 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,599 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,718 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DGX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore set a $225.00 target price on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Argus set a $260.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $235.31.

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 transaction of $1,941,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 1,600 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.18, for a total value of $376,288.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 10,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,430,585.30. This trade represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 19,747 shares of company stock worth $3,947,088 in the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DGX opened at $237.91 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $211.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $201.38. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52-week low of $171.18 and a 52-week high of $240.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.56.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.30. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 9.18%.The business had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.62 EPS. The business’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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th were given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.52%.

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.