Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

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 to investors on Monday.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on DGX. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $232.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. 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. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.17.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

DGX opened at $210.87 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $23.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.30, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $200.52 and its 200 day moving average is $196.27. Quest Diagnostics has a 12-month low of $165.30 and a 12-month high of $219.20.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its earnings results 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. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.07% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue 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, equities research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics will post 10.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,629,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,702,000. This 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 Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total value of $1,941,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at $25,708,601.22. This trade represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,497,458,000 after acquiring an additional 140,450 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,382,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $934,033,000 after acquiring an additional 158,617 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $767,978,000 after purchasing an additional 997,033 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,693,568 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $467,415,000 after purchasing an additional 406,658 shares during the period. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 35.1% during the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,243,869 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $439,753,000 after purchasing an additional 582,797 shares during the period. 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.