Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Upgraded at StockNews.com

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $153.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.92.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $149.00 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $152.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $143.64. Quest Diagnostics has a 52 week low of $120.87 and a 52 week high of $159.36. The company has a market capitalization of $16.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.35% and a net margin of 8.99%. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.26, for a total value of $304,987.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,756,206.34. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.26, for a total value of $304,987.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,756,206.34. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.08, for a total value of $60,093.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 5,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $718,118.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Quest Diagnostics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DGX. Integrated Advisors Network LLC lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 2,157 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,632,326 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $362,945,000 after buying an additional 18,533 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 45,711 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,303,000 after buying an additional 3,049 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the fourth quarter worth $585,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 4.9% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 19,097 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,542,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated provides diagnostic testing and services in the United States and internationally. The company develops and delivers diagnostic information services, such as routine, non-routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic information services.