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

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGXGet Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on DGX. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Evercore set a $225.00 target price on Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $235.31.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

NYSE:DGX opened at $235.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $205.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $198.92. Quest Diagnostics has a 1-year low of $166.75 and a 1-year high of $240.13. The firm has a market cap of $25.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.58.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGXGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.30. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 16.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.62 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics will post 11.16 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.18, for a total transaction of $376,288.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 10,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,430,585.30. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders sold 19,747 shares of company stock valued at $3,947,088 in the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter valued at about $229,522,000. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $767,978,000 after buying an additional 997,033 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 95.5% during the 4th quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,661,072 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $288,246,000 after buying an additional 811,320 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its position 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 valued at $193,391,000 after buying an additional 450,161 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $287,337,000 after buying an additional 426,399 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Quest Diagnostics

(Get Free Report)

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.

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Analyst Recommendations for Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX)

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