Quest Diagnostics Incorporated to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.75 (NYSE:DGX)

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 12th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%.

Quest Diagnostics has raised its dividend by an average of 8.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Quest Diagnostics has a dividend payout ratio of 30.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Quest Diagnostics to earn $9.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.0%.

Quest Diagnostics Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE DGX opened at $160.55 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $17.92 billion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $153.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.10. Quest Diagnostics has a 52-week low of $123.04 and a 52-week high of $162.59.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.22 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Quest Diagnostics will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on DGX. Evercore ISI began coverage on Quest Diagnostics in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $158.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $160.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Baird R W upgraded Quest Diagnostics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $154.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.58.

Insider Transactions at Quest Diagnostics

In other Quest Diagnostics news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of Quest Diagnostics stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total value of $278,533.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,527,459.28. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.92, for a total transaction of $278,533.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,527,459.28. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael J. Deppe sold 18,755 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,520 shares of company stock valued at $3,472,728 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

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.