Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Monday, December 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.29.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Up 2.4%

NYSE:DGX opened at $207.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.05 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.66. Quest Diagnostics has a 52-week low of $157.20 and a 52-week high of $213.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $186.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $183.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The medical research company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 8.99%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.23 earnings per share. Quest Diagnostics has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.45-9.650 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 10th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to purchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Patrick Plewman sold 5,662 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total value of $1,155,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 15,381 shares in the company, valued at $3,137,724. This trade represents a 26.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 1,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.83, for a total transaction of $227,566.13. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 38,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,859,531.93. The trade was a 2.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 9,164 shares of company stock worth $1,872,363 over the last 90 days. 8.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at $333,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter worth about $527,000. Dean Capital Management grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 12,478 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,165,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the period. Compound Planning Inc. grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 169.7% in the 4th quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 3,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 2,254 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 533.8% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 165,729 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $28,759,000 after acquiring an additional 139,582 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% 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.