Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $116.39 Million Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 18.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 670,741 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 150,839 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $116,394,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Paradiem LLC bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter valued at about $13,652,000. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth about $1,517,000. Cibc World Market Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 5,257 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 19,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the third quarter worth approximately $5,757,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

DGX stock opened at $200.74 on Monday. 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 50 day moving average price of $194.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.37. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $164.65 and a fifty-two week high of $213.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.22 billion, a PE ratio of 22.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.59.

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

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.01%.

Quest Diagnostics announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 10th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to purchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DGX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings cut Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $216.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was 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 directly owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.