Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Lifted to “Strong-Buy” at Baird R W

Baird R W upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also commented on DGX. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Nine investment 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 stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $163.33.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of DGX stock opened at $155.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $153.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $144.75. Quest Diagnostics has a one year low of $123.04 and a one year high of $160.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.35% and a net margin of 8.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. Quest Diagnostics’s payout ratio is currently 40.38%.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,756,206.34. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the second quarter worth $48,783,000. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the first quarter worth $46,432,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,921,955 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,853,151,000 after buying an additional 345,754 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 601.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 277,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,993,000 after buying an additional 238,007 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 222.0% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 299,740 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $41,028,000 after buying an additional 206,640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.