Procyon Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 2,537 Quest Diagnostics Incorporated $DGX

Procyon Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 2,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $497,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Quest Diagnostics by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,392,082 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,497,458,000 after acquiring an additional 140,450 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,382,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $934,033,000 after acquiring an additional 158,617 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 32.8% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,036,881 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $767,978,000 after acquiring an additional 997,033 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,693,568 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $467,415,000 after purchasing an additional 406,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,931,548 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $335,204,000 after purchasing an additional 24,038 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DGX opened at $205.91 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $22.79 billion, a PE ratio of 22.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.58. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a 12 month low of $164.65 and a 12 month high of $219.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.61.

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

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DGX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $232.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group upped their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value of $1,629,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president 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 the SEC website. 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 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 $25,708,601.22. The trade was a 7.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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.

Quest Diagnostics Company 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.