Quest Diagnostics (DGX) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. It offers diagnostic information services primarily under the Quest Diagnostics brand, as well as under the AmeriPath, Dermpath Diagnostics, ExamOne, and Quanum brands to physicians, hospitals, patients and consumers, health plans, government agencies, employers, retailers, pharmaceutical companies and insurers, and accountable care organizations through a network of laboratories, patient service centers, phlebotomists in physician offices, call centers and mobile phlebotomists, nurses, and other health and wellness professionals. The company also provides risk assessment services for the life insurance industry; and healthcare organizations and clinicians information technology solutions. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $160.33 to $164.25
• 50-Day Range: $146.83 to $162.11
• 52-Week Range: $123.04 to $164.25
• Volume: 432,822 shs
• Average Volume: 921,331 shs
• Market Capitalization: $18.33 billion
• P/E Ratio: 22.07
• Dividend Yield: 1.83%
• Price Target: $164.58
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Quest Diagnostics Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Quest Diagnostics scored higher than 96% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 34th out of 952 stocks in the medical sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.3 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Quest Diagnostics has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.50, and is based on 5 buy ratings, 8 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Quest Diagnostics has been the subject of 9 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 8.99%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Quest Diagnostics are expected to grow by 8.99% in the coming year, from $8.90 to $9.70 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Quest Diagnostics is 22.07, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 125.01.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Quest Diagnostics is 22.07, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Medical sector average P/E ratio of about 126.35.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Quest Diagnostics has a PEG Ratio of 2.79. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Quest Diagnostics has a P/B Ratio of 2.68. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.14% of the float of Quest Diagnostics has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Quest Diagnostics has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.3, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Quest Diagnostics has recently increased by 2.15%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

Quest Diagnostics pays a meaningful dividend of 1.86%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Quest Diagnostics does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Quest Diagnostics is 40.32%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Quest Diagnostics will have a dividend payout ratio of 30.93% next year. This indicates that Quest Diagnostics will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 4.7 / 5
• Environmental Score: -0.62

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.14% of the float of Quest Diagnostics has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Quest Diagnostics has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.3, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Quest Diagnostics has recently increased by 2.15%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.9 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.95

News Sentiment

Quest Diagnostics has a news sentiment score of 0.95. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.48 average news sentiment score of Medical companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 19 news articles for Quest Diagnostics this week, compared to 10 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

5 people have searched for DGX on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 150% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

11 people have added Quest Diagnostics to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 1,000% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Quest Diagnostics insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $3,472,728.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.79% of the stock of Quest Diagnostics is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

88.06% of the stock of Quest Diagnostics is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

DGX Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have DGX shares performed this year?

Quest Diagnostics' stock was trading at $137.88 at the start of the year. Since then, DGX stock has increased by 19.1% and is now trading at $164.19.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Quest Diagnostics' earnings last quarter?

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) announced 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's quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis.
Read the conference call transcript.

How will Quest Diagnostics' stock buyback program work?

Quest Diagnostics' board authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 2nd 2023, which authorizes the company to buy back $1,000,000,000 in shares, according to EventVestor. This means that the company could buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Does Quest Diagnostics have any subsidiaries?

Quest Diagnostics subsidiaries include these companies: MACL, Blueprint Genetics, PhenoPath Laboratories, ReproSource, California Laboratory Associates, Cleveland HeartLab, Cape Cod Healthcare - Business, and more.

Who are Quest Diagnostics' major shareholders?

Top institutional investors of Quest Diagnostics include State Street Corp (4.72%), Victory Capital Management Inc. (3.10%), Geode Capital Management LLC (2.34%) and Wellington Management Group LLP (2.09%). Insiders that own company stock include Stephen H Rusckowski, Catherine T Doherty, Michael E Prevoznik, Michael J Deppe, Timothy M Ring, Vicky B Gregg, Karthik Kuppusamy and Mark E Delaney.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Quest Diagnostics?

Shares of DGX stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Quest Diagnostics own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Quest Diagnostics investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Broadcom (AVGO), Adobe (ADBE), General Electric (GE) and ServiceNow (NOW).

Company Calendar

• Ex-Dividend for 10/21 Dividend: 10/04/2024
• Dividend Payable: 10/21/2024
• Last Earnings: 10/22/2024
• Today: 11/21/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2024
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 2/06/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Medical
• Industry: Medical laboratories
• Sub-Industry: Health Care Services
• Current Symbol: NYSE:DGX
• CUSIP: 74834L10
• CIK: 1022079
• Web: www.questdiagnostics.com
• Phone: (973) 520-2700
• Fax: 201-462-4169
• Employees: 48,000
• Year Founded: 1967

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $164.58
• High Stock Price Target: $185.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $135.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +0.3%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.50
• Research Coverage: 14 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $7.44
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 22.05
• Forward P/E Ratio: 18.43
• P/E Growth: 2.79
• Net Income: $854 million
• Net Margins: 8.82%
• Pretax Margin: 11.67%
• Return on Equity: 15.25%
• Return on Assets: 6.92%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.83
• Current Ratio: 1.25
• Quick Ratio: 1.17

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $9.25 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.98
• Cash Flow: $12.97 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 12.65
• Book Value: $61.29 per share
• Price / Book: 2.68

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 111,610,000
• Free Float: 110,733,000
• Market Cap: $18.31 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.89