OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Acquires New Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,614 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,402,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DGX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,392,082 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,497,458,000 after purchasing an additional 140,450 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter worth $1,965,923,000. State Street Corp increased 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 worth $934,033,000 after purchasing an additional 158,617 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 997,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 406,658 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,629,400.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 the stock in a transaction 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 owned 10,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,430,585.30. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. 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 sold a total of 19,747 shares of company stock worth $3,947,088 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $236.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.31.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $244.78 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.02 billion, a PE ratio of 25.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.59. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $222.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.46. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $171.18 and a one year high of $246.00.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.30. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.01%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.62 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. Research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be given a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.