Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Raises Stock Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 22.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,278 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,581 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $3,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DGX. Boston Partners raised 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 acquiring an additional 997,033 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 66,757.0% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 849,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $161,946,000 after acquiring an additional 848,481 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 67.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,114,451 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $193,391,000 after acquiring an additional 450,161 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 36.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,599,602 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $287,337,000 after acquiring an additional 426,399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 171.7% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 557,155 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $106,183,000 after acquiring an additional 352,072 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on DGX shares. Wall Street Zen cut Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued 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 issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

NYSE DGX opened at $196.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $21.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.18. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $194.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $191.26. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $164.65 and a fifty-two week high of $213.50.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

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

Quest Diagnostics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, February 10th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to buy up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total value of $1,941,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.