Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Raises Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 77.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,938 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,851 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $3,112,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Paradiem LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at $13,652,000. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 117.5% in the third quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,034 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $959,000 after acquiring an additional 2,720 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at $1,517,000. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 209.6% in the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 7,765 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,480,000 after acquiring an additional 5,257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 346.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,329,000 after acquiring an additional 19,361 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DGX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Citigroup increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE DGX opened at $195.23 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52-week low of $164.65 and a 52-week high of $213.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $194.85 and a 200-day moving average of $190.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.61 billion, a PE ratio of 21.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.07% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.94 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.01%.

Quest Diagnostics declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 10th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the medical research company to repurchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 2,855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $588,729.55. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,198 shares in the company, valued at $3,133,979.58. This trade represents a 15.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 2,628 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.86, for a total value of $538,372.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,753,523.26. This trade represents a 16.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,919 shares of company stock valued at $3,072,899. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.