Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

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

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $209.73 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $195.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $192.79. Quest Diagnostics has a 1-year low of $164.65 and a 1-year 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 stock has a market cap of $23.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.59.

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

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $2,702,000. The trade was a 37.62% 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. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth $229,522,000. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% in the third 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 last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 66,757.0% in the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 849,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $161,946,000 after buying an additional 848,481 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 67.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,114,451 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $193,391,000 after buying an additional 450,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 36.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,599,602 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $287,337,000 after buying an additional 426,399 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.