Natixis Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Natixis Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) by 23.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 97,002 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 30,362 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.09% of Quest Diagnostics worth $16,833,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DGX. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter valued at $323,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $719,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter valued at $287,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 14,339 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,576,000 after buying an additional 962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,599 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,341,000 after buying an additional 2,718 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO J. E. Davis sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 132,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,708,601.22. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DGX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Evercore set a $225.00 price objective on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings lowered Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.58.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $200.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.18. The company has a fifty day moving average of $194.43 and a 200 day moving average of $191.33. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $164.65 and a fifty-two week high of $213.50.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.07% and a return on equity of 15.60%. Quest Diagnostics’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.630-10.830 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will post 10.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Quest Diagnostics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 10th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the medical research company to buy up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.01%.

Quest Diagnostics Profile

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.