Nuance Investments LLC Increases Stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Nuance Investments LLC increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 83.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 55,556 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,349 shares during the period. Quest Diagnostics makes up approximately 1.1% of Nuance Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Nuance Investments LLC’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $9,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,392,082 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,497,458,000 after purchasing an additional 140,450 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,223,930 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $995,577,000 after purchasing an additional 38,931 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $767,978,000 after purchasing an additional 997,033 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,907,510 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $363,509,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,688,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $321,846,000 after purchasing an additional 30,418 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE DGX opened at $200.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $164.65 and a 12 month high of $213.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.22 billion, a PE ratio of 22.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $191.33.

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

Quest Diagnostics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to purchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 is Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is 38.01%.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total value of $1,941,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DGX. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Finally, Evercore set a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.58.

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.