Bank of America Raises Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Price Target to $182.00

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) had its target price upped by Bank of America from $179.00 to $182.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the medical research company’s stock.

DGX has been the subject of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Quest Diagnostics in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.92.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.7 %

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $155.00 on Friday. Quest Diagnostics has a 12 month low of $123.04 and a 12 month high of $165.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $17.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $156.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.37.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 8.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total value of $2,889,207.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,382,661.05. This trade represents a 34.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total transaction of $278,533.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,734 shares in the company, valued at $1,527,459.28. This trade represents a 15.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter worth $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 77.5% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 229 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% 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.