Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Has $29.22 Million Stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 3,703.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 168,397 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 163,970 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $29,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Paradiem LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth about $13,652,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth about $1,517,000. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 209.6% during the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 7,765 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,480,000 after acquiring an additional 5,257 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 346.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,329,000 after acquiring an additional 19,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the third quarter worth about $2,026,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on DGX shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $201.62 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50 day moving average of $195.06 and a 200-day moving average of $191.94. 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 1 year low of $164.65 and a 1 year 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.07% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be given a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total transaction of $1,941,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,629,400.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,702,000. This represents a 37.62% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

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.