UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Stock

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at UBS Group from $166.00 to $170.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the medical research company’s stock. UBS Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 4.85% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $157.00 to $182.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective (up from $165.00) on shares of Quest Diagnostics in a report on Monday. Leerink Partners upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $169.00 to $174.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Baird R W raised Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.46.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of DGX traded down $0.97 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $162.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 150,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,007,978. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $155.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.70. Quest Diagnostics has a one year low of $123.18 and a one year high of $167.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.10 billion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.90.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a net margin of 8.80% and a return on equity of 15.07%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Quest Diagnostics will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Quest Diagnostics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Quest Diagnostics by 340.4% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 251 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. First Financial Corp IN bought a new stake in Quest Diagnostics during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Quest Diagnostics in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quest Diagnostics during the third quarter valued at about $82,000. 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.