Bank of New York Mellon Corp Reduces Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 2.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund 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 owned approximately 0.59% of Quest Diagnostics worth $128,555,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Key Financial Inc grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Quattro Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 114.3% in the fourth 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 lifted its position 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 buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Quest Diagnostics news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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 owned 132,423 shares in the company, valued at $25,708,601.22. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,702,000. The trade was a 37.62% 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. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DGX. Barclays lifted 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 boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company 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 research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $232.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.17.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.1%

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

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 9.07%.Quest Diagnostics’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.01%.

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.