Michael Prevoznik Sells 1,111 Shares of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) SVP Michael Prevoznik sold 1,111 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.83, for a total transaction of $227,566.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 38,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,859,531.93. This represents a 2.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $202.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $22.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.66. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $157.20 and a fifty-two week high of $213.20. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $183.68.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The medical research company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 15.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.23 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.45-9.650 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a boost from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 6th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.57%.

Quest Diagnostics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird set a $219.00 price target on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.29.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 1.0% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,382,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $934,033,000 after acquiring an additional 158,617 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 7.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,982,415 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $533,563,000 after acquiring an additional 208,261 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,693,568 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $467,415,000 after purchasing an additional 406,658 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.