Catherine Doherty Sells 5,558 Shares of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Stock

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) EVP Catherine Doherty sold 5,558 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total value of $1,146,115.18. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 67,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,841,227.62. This represents a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 2.3%

NYSE:DGX opened at $199.37 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.90 billion, a PE ratio of 22.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.66. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $157.20 and a fifty-two week high of $213.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $191.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.76.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The medical research company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 15.57%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.23 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.45-9.650 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 6th will be given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 6th. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is currently 36.57%.

Quest Diagnostics announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on DGX shares. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $219.00 target price on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Barclays upped their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Evercore set a $220.00 price target on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.29.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter worth $238,122,000. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% during 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 in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $161,946,000 after buying an additional 848,481 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 256.5% in the second quarter. M&G PLC now owns 1,072,721 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $193,090,000 after buying an additional 771,824 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 67.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,114,451 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $193,391,000 after acquiring an additional 450,161 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

More Quest Diagnostics News

Here are the key news stories impacting Quest Diagnostics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research expects higher Q4/near-term earnings for Quest, which supports the company’s fundamentals and could be a near-term tailwind if results and guidance confirm those estimates. Zacks Research Expects Higher Earnings for Quest Diagnostics
• Neutral Sentiment: Equity analysts have set/updated expectations for DGX Q4 earnings (consensus estimates being monitored ahead of the print); this keeps focus on results and guide as the primary near-term catalysts. Equities Analysts Set Expectations for DGX Q4 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Options traders are driving implied volatility higher on DGX, indicating the market is pricing a larger-than-normal move around upcoming news (increases trading costs and can amplify share moves in either direction). Implied Volatility Surging for Quest Diagnostics Stock Options
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple senior executives completed sizable stock sales this week (SVPs and an EVP sold shares at ~ $204–$206 each). Combined disclosed sales total roughly $3.07M and represented single-digit to mid-teens percentage reductions in holdings — a negative signal that likely pressured the stock given concentration of selling among insiders. SEC Filing (Form 4) — Karthik Kuppusamy

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.