Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.58.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

NYSE:DGX opened at $161.18 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $154.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $147.72. Quest Diagnostics has a 52-week low of $123.04 and a 52-week high of $162.88. The firm has a market cap of $17.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.66, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.89.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total transaction of $2,889,207.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 34,941 shares in the company, valued at $5,382,661.05. The trade was a 34.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,459 shares in the company, valued at $1,756,206.34. This represents a 14.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,520 shares of company stock worth $3,472,728 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,921,955 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,853,151,000 after purchasing an additional 345,754 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,263,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $817,117,000 after acquiring an additional 70,578 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,616,653 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $404,838,000 after acquiring an additional 39,217 shares during the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers raised its stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 2,390,828 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $327,257,000 after acquiring an additional 9,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,109,515 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $288,758,000 after purchasing an additional 129,395 shares during the last quarter. 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.