Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The medical research company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.04, Zacks reports. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 15.25%. Quest Diagnostics updated its FY 2025 guidance to 9.550-9.800 EPS.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DGX traded up $10.13 during trading on Thursday, hitting $165.57. The company had a trading volume of 1,194,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 947,040. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $155.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $153.43. Quest Diagnostics has a fifty-two week low of $123.04 and a fifty-two week high of $167.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Quest Diagnostics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be given a $0.80 dividend. This is a positive change from Quest Diagnostics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on DGX shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $169.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.15.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.05, for a total value of $2,889,207.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 34,941 shares in the company, valued at $5,382,661.05. This trade represents a 34.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.79% 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.