Maple Capital Management Inc. Buys Shares of 3,070 Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Maple Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,070 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $533,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Paradiem LLC purchased a new position in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth $13,652,000. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 117.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,034 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $959,000 after buying an additional 2,720 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,713,000. TKG Advisors LLC lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 125.1% in the third quarter. TKG Advisors LLC now owns 14,596 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,782,000 after buying an additional 8,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in Quest Diagnostics by 209.6% in the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 7,765 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,480,000 after buying an additional 5,257 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Down 0.9%

Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $189.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a twelve month low of $164.65 and a twelve month high of $213.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $198.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $189.76.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.13. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 9.07%.The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.94 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to reacquire up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 6th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 6th. This is a boost from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Catherine T. Doherty sold 5,558 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.21, for a total transaction of $1,146,115.18. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 67,122 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,841,227.62. The trade was a 7.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 5,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total transaction of $1,155,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 15,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,137,724. The trade was a 26.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,083 shares of company stock valued at $4,945,262. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DGX shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup upped their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group raised their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Quest Diagnostics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $216.58.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) is a leading provider of diagnostic information services that supports clinical decision-making for patients, physicians and healthcare organizations. The company operates a network of clinical laboratories and patient service centers that perform a broad range of laboratory tests and diagnostic assays used in routine care, disease diagnosis, monitoring and screening.

Its services span core clinical laboratory testing, anatomic pathology, molecular and genomic diagnostics, infectious disease testing and toxicology.