Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX Holdings Trimmed by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC reduced its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 61.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,614 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 15,381 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $1,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Key Financial Inc raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 1,728.6% during the first quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Quattro Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on DGX shares. Argus set a $260.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Mizuho boosted 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $235.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,629,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at $25,708,601.22. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 have sold a total of 19,747 shares of company stock worth $3,947,088 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 1.2%

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $238.78 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a one year low of $171.18 and a one year high of $240.13. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $210.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $201.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $26.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, a PEG ratio of 2.17 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. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 9.18%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.62 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 8th. 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.