Maverick Capital Ltd. Has $540,000 Position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Maverick Capital Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 88.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,756 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 21,139 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd.’s holdings in Quest Diagnostics were worth $540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at $323,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 4.6% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $719,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter worth about $287,000. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 7.2% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 14,339 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,576,000 after buying an additional 962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 17.1% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,599 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,341,000 after buying an additional 2,718 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 1.5%

NYSE DGX opened at $235.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.58. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 52 week low of $166.75 and a 52 week high of $240.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $204.96 and a 200-day moving average of $198.52.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 9.18%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.62 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.050-11.250 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 11.16 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is 36.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DGX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $236.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $233.25.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 8,147 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,629,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 13,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,702,000. The trade was a 37.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.14, for a total value of $1,941,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

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.