Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires Shares of 4,952 Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,952 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $859,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quattro Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 114.3% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 113.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 156 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DGX. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of DGX stock opened at $202.62 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $194.99 and its 200-day moving average is $191.87. The stock has a market cap of $22.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.59. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52-week low of $164.65 and a 52-week high of $213.50.

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

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,702,000. This trade represents a 37.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 directly owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.88% 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.