Analysts Set Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Target Price at $147.15

Shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $148.69.

A number of brokerages have commented on DGX. Mizuho upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $139.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.4 %

DGX stock opened at $144.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.01 billion, a PE ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics has a 1-year low of $119.59 and a 1-year high of $145.62. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $139.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.04.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.18. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 9.11%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, July 8th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 8th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,760 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $246,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,880,900. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DGX. Norges Bank bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $140,472,000. Nuance Investments LLC bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $83,070,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 36.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,001,347 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $243,884,000 after purchasing an additional 538,377 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 12.3% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,554,517 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $433,153,000 after purchasing an additional 388,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the first quarter valued at about $46,432,000. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated provides diagnostic testing and services in the United States and internationally. The company develops and delivers diagnostic information services, such as routine, non-routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic information services.