Savvy Advisors Inc. Boosts Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,628 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the period. Savvy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 9.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,984,238 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,012,534,000 after purchasing an additional 493,960 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the first quarter valued at $388,724,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 7.7% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,177,572 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $199,245,000 after purchasing an additional 84,530 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,013,030 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $171,405,000 after purchasing an additional 10,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 0.6% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 961,154 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $162,628,000 after purchasing an additional 6,079 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 1,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.00, for a total transaction of $365,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 15,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,824,765. This trade represents a 11.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gary M. Pfeiffer sold 1,482 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.40, for a total transaction of $270,316.80. Following the sale, the director owned 29,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,368,214.40. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 44,189 shares of company stock worth $8,157,857. Insiders own 8.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on DGX. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $207.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $196.31.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $175.93 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12-month low of $148.70 and a 12-month high of $197.55. The stock has a market cap of $19.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.65, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $182.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The medical research company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.09. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The firm had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 9.760-9.840 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 3rd. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.56%.

Quest Diagnostics Company Profile

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated provides diagnostic testing and services in the United States and internationally. The company develops and delivers diagnostic information services, such as routine, non-routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic information services.