Swedbank AB Acquires 8,605 Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 93,468 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,605 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $16,220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,392,082 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,497,458,000 after buying an additional 140,450 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,223,930 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $995,577,000 after buying an additional 38,931 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $767,978,000 after buying an additional 997,033 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,907,510 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $363,509,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,688,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $321,846,000 after buying an additional 30,418 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 3,878 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $799,682.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 37,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,744,628.97. This represents a 9.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 2,628 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.86, for a total transaction of $538,372.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,753,523.26. This represents a 16.35% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 14,919 shares of company stock valued at $3,072,899 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DGX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $195.23 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $164.65 and a fifty-two week high of $213.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $194.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $190.66. The company has a market cap of $21.61 billion, a PE ratio of 21.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Quest Diagnostics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 10th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

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

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.