Diversify Wealth Management LLC Takes $724,000 Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Diversify Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,826 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $724,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DGX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 worth $2,497,458,000 after purchasing an additional 140,450 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 3.0% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings 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 valued at $767,978,000 after buying an additional 997,033 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 406,658 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,931,548 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $335,204,000 after purchasing an additional 24,038 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on DGX. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $232.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.17.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 3.8%

DGX stock opened at $209.34 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.58. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $165.19 and a 12 month high of $219.20. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $200.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.02. 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 (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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.13. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 9.07%.The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is presently 38.01%.

Insider Activity

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction 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 owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,702,000. The trade was a 37.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at $25,708,601.22. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.