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

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX - Get Free Report) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on DGX. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Baird R W upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded 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 note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $164.58.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock traded down $1.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $154.83. The stock had a trading volume of 873,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 921,196. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $153.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $145.44. Quest Diagnostics has a 12-month low of $123.04 and a 12-month high of $160.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $17.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DGX. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. purchased a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the second quarter worth $48,783,000. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in Quest Diagnostics in the first quarter valued at $46,432,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $1,853,151,000 after purchasing an additional 345,754 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 601.7% in the second 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 purchasing an additional 238,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Quest Diagnostics by 222.0% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 299,740 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $41,028,000 after purchasing an additional 206,640 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.