Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) Receives $185.07 Consensus PT from Analysts

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $185.07.

Several research analysts have issued reports on DGX shares. Citigroup lowered shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $185.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Leerink Partners raised Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.30, for a total transaction of $66,212.90. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $759,723.20. The trade was a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 39,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.46, for a total transaction of $6,602,115.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 127,623 shares in the company, valued at $21,499,370.58. This trade represents a 23.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,903 shares of company stock valued at $9,460,221 over the last ninety days. 8.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Quest Diagnostics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,490,278 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $828,265,000 after buying an additional 1,637,525 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter worth $191,823,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 60.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,433,913 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $367,180,000 after acquiring an additional 916,898 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 83.7% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,093,042 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $164,896,000 after purchasing an additional 497,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth about $67,447,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $177.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $19.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.52. Quest Diagnostics has a twelve month low of $135.35 and a twelve month high of $179.32. The company’s fifty day moving average is $169.51 and its 200 day moving average is $162.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.06. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 8.80%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.63 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

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.