Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $8.85-$8.95 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $8.89. The company issued revenue guidance of $9.80-$9.85 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $9.68 billion. Quest Diagnostics also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 8.850-8.950 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Quest Diagnostics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Quest Diagnostics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $163.33.

Quest Diagnostics Price Performance

DGX stock traded up $2.12 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $159.24. 118,343 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 920,873. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $152.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $17.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89. Quest Diagnostics has a fifty-two week low of $121.60 and a fifty-two week high of $159.94.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.35% and a net margin of 8.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.22 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Quest Diagnostics will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.26, for a total transaction of $304,987.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,756,206.34. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.