Rice Partnership LLC Grows Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Rice Partnership LLC boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 21,840 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,288 shares during the quarter. Rice Partnership LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $4,162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,233,576 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,556,777,000 after buying an additional 296,860 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 32.4% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,039,848 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $545,318,000 after acquiring an additional 744,102 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Quest Diagnostics by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,982,415 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $533,563,000 after acquiring an additional 208,261 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 29.9% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,658,351 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $297,890,000 after purchasing an additional 381,619 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 36.3% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,599,602 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $287,337,000 after purchasing an additional 426,399 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DGX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Monday, December 29th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 1,433 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.83, for a total transaction of $293,521.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 68,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,010,781.66. This trade represents a 2.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 1,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.83, for a total transaction of $227,566.13. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 38,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,859,531.93. The trade was a 2.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,164 shares of company stock worth $1,872,363. Company insiders own 8.16% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 2.4%

NYSE DGX opened at $207.22 on Tuesday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $157.20 and a 52 week high of $213.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $186.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $23.05 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 6th will be given a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 6th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. This is a boost from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is 36.57%.

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

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.