Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Price Target Raised to $174.00

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by research analysts at Mizuho from $160.00 to $174.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the medical research company's stock. Mizuho's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 10.13% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Baird R W raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $163.33.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

NYSE:DGX traded up $0.88 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $158.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,233,235 shares, compared to its average volume of 926,285. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Quest Diagnostics has a 52 week low of $121.60 and a 52 week high of $160.95. The firm has a market cap of $17.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $152.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.48.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 15.35%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.22 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.26, for a total value of $304,987.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,459 shares in the company, valued at $1,756,206.34. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Quest Diagnostics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DGX. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 77.5% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 229 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.