Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Friday.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $139.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. SVB Leerink initiated coverage on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They issued a market perform rating and a $135.00 price objective for the company. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Quest Diagnostics from a b- rating to a c rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $146.17.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock opened at $137.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50 day moving average is $130.33 and its 200 day moving average is $131.83. Quest Diagnostics has a twelve month low of $119.59 and a twelve month high of $145.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.04 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics will post 8.78 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,760 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $246,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,435 shares in the company, valued at $1,880,900. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Quest Diagnostics news, Director Vicky B. Gregg sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.64, for a total transaction of $316,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,329 shares in the company, valued at $2,067,904.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,760 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $246,400.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,880,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,910 shares of company stock valued at $2,159,602. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 218 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Quest Diagnostics Company Profile

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.