Robert W. Baird Raises Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Price Target to $191.00

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) had its price target lifted by stock analysts at Robert W. Baird from $190.00 to $191.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 14.40% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on DGX. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective (up from $165.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $166.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley raised Quest Diagnostics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $172.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.38.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Up 0.3 %

DGX opened at $166.96 on Thursday. Quest Diagnostics has a 1-year low of $125.42 and a 1-year high of $178.87. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $18.53 billion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.92.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.07% and a net margin of 8.80%. As a group, research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Michael E. Prevoznik sold 528 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.61, for a total value of $91,138.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,737,140.91. This trade represents a 1.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Mark E. Delaney sold 403 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.30, for a total value of $66,212.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $759,723.20. This represents a 8.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,157 shares of company stock worth $2,423,755 in the last ninety days. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quest Diagnostics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Quest Diagnostics by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,490,278 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $828,265,000 after purchasing an additional 1,637,525 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,263,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $817,117,000 after acquiring an additional 70,578 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,690,021 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $404,764,000 after acquiring an additional 73,368 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,433,913 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $367,180,000 after acquiring an additional 916,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its position in shares of Quest Diagnostics by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 2,268,990 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $342,300,000 after acquiring an additional 26,214 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Quest Diagnostics

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.