Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX Shares Sold by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 2.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 655,961 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 14,780 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $128,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Key Financial Inc lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1,728.6% during the 1st quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Quattro Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 114.3% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 113.7% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 156 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on DGX. Barclays boosted their price target 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. UBS Group lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.17.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

NYSE:DGX opened at $210.87 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $200.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $23.34 billion, a PE ratio of 23.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.58. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $165.30 and a fifty-two week high of $219.20.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. Analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be given a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.01%.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,702,000. The trade was a 37.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total value of $1,941,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 insiders.

Quest Diagnostics 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.