Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Raised to Outperform at Robert W. Baird

Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Robert W. Baird currently has $182.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $157.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $144.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.33.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DGX opened at $155.04 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $153.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.83. Quest Diagnostics has a fifty-two week low of $123.04 and a fifty-two week high of $160.95. The company has a market capitalization of $17.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 15.35%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.26, for a total transaction of $304,987.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,459 shares in the company, valued at $1,756,206.34. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. bought a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter valued at about $48,783,000. M&G Plc bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the 1st quarter valued at about $46,432,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,921,955 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,853,151,000 after acquiring an additional 345,754 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 601.7% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 277,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $37,993,000 after acquiring an additional 238,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 222.0% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 299,740 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $41,028,000 after acquiring an additional 206,640 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.