Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.04 EPS

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The medical research company reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.04, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 15.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. Quest Diagnostics updated its FY 2024 guidance to 8.800-9.000 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $8.80-9.00 EPS.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

DGX stock opened at $144.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics has a one year low of $119.59 and a one year high of $150.59. The stock has a market cap of $16.02 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.46.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 8th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 8th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $145.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $153.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $149.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,760 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Company Profile

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.