Wall Street Zen Downgrades Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) to Hold

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on DGX. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE DGX opened at $194.78 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics has a 12 month low of $164.65 and a 12 month high of $213.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $21.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $194.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $191.04.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. Quest Diagnostics’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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics will post 10.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, February 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to reacquire up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 3,878 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $799,682.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 37,557 shares in the company, valued at $7,744,628.97. This trade represents a 9.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 2,855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $588,729.55. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 15,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,133,979.58. This trade represents a 15.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 14,919 shares of company stock worth $3,072,899 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Quest Diagnostics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 9.7% in the first quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,529 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 8.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,752,902 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $343,534,000 after purchasing an additional 129,964 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 71.6% in the first quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 12,007 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,353,000 after purchasing an additional 5,008 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 61.2% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,603 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,882,000 after purchasing an additional 3,647 shares during the period. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 35.1% in the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,243,869 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $439,753,000 after purchasing an additional 582,797 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

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.