Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX Shares Sold by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC trimmed its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 25.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,393 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,546 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $2,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Davis Selected Advisers boosted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 1,589,883 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $275,895,000 after purchasing an additional 228,271 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 178.7% during the fourth quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 171,987 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $29,847,000 after purchasing an additional 110,280 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 313,838 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $54,460,000 after purchasing an additional 16,194 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $92,000. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its position in Quest Diagnostics by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 460,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $79,950,000 after buying an additional 29,084 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 1,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.18, for a total transaction of $376,288.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,335 shares in the company, valued at $2,430,585.30. The trade was a 13.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,629,400.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,702,000. This represents a 37.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,747 shares of company stock worth $3,947,088. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE:DGX opened at $237.91 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $211.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $201.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.26, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.56. 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 Incorporated has a 1-year low of $171.18 and a 1-year high of $240.13.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 9.18%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.62 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 36.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on DGX shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $236.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Argus set a $260.00 target price on Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings raised Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $235.31.

About Quest Diagnostics

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.