Mark Delaney Sells 1,600 Shares of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) SVP Mark Delaney sold 1,600 shares of Quest Diagnostics 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,430,585.30. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of DGX stock opened at $234.84 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 1 year low of $166.76 and a 1 year high of $240.13. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $206.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $199.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.62 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.52%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tema ETFs LLC raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in Quest Diagnostics by 5.2% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 31,508 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,678,000 after acquiring an additional 1,550 shares during the period. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 7.7% during the second quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab now owns 14,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 39.1% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 15,405 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,265,000 after acquiring an additional 4,334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 36.3% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,295 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Evercore set a $225.00 target price on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $236.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Argus set a $260.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.