Railway Pension Investments Ltd Grows Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Railway Pension Investments Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 91.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,500 shares during the quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $13,989,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 26,801 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,681,000 after purchasing an additional 4,827 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 11.3% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 942,407 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $199,743,000 after purchasing an additional 95,804 shares during the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 7.8% in the second quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 5,503 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Toth Financial Advisory Corp boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 32,530 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,895,000 after purchasing an additional 2,769 shares during the period. Finally, Mufg Securities Americas Inc. boosted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 3,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $707,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.7%

DGX stock opened at $240.96 on Tuesday. 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 market capitalization of $26.59 billion, a PE ratio of 25.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $224.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.46. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $171.18 and a 52 week high of $247.19.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 22,677 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.11, for a total transaction of $5,513,005.47. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 37,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,130,482.27. The trade was a 37.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.18, for a total value of $376,288.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 10,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,430,585.30. This trade represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,424 shares of company stock worth $7,518,693. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DGX. Barclays increased their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Argus set a $260.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.31.

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.