Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) does about 1.09M shares in volume on a normal day but saw 926370 shares change hands in Friday trading. The company now has a market cap of 16.59B USD. Its current market price is $148.22, marking an increase of 1.06% compared to the previous close of $146.66. The 52 week high reached by this stock is $158.34 whilst the lowest price level in 52 weeks is $120.40. The script in recent trading has seen the stock touch a high of $148.915 and a low of $146.80.
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (DGX) has a 20-day trading average at $146.02 and the current price is -6.39% off the 52-week high compared with 23.11% distance from its 52-week low. The 50-day simple moving average of the closing price is $149.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.06. If we look at the stock’s price movements over the week, volatility stands at 1.83%, which increases to 1.99% over 1 month. It is also key to look at other market indicators of price movement for the stock, where we see that the relative strength index (RSI) is at 53.35 to suggest the stock is neutral.
16 analysts observing the Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (DGX) stock have set the 12-month price targets for the company’s shares at between $125.00 and $170.00. The consensus objective for the share price is $150.13, suggesting that the stock has a potential upside of 1.27% over the period. The median price target is 1.19% away from the current levels at $150.00.
FactSet Research has provided data showing that 16 brokerages have issued ratings for the stock. 1 analysts have rated it as a sell, while 0 advise that it is a overweight. 4 analysts have rated it as a buy and 11 have advised that investors hold their positions. The consensus recommendation rating is Hold and Wall Street’s advice is for investors to Moderate Buy the stock.
The company shares received a number of brokerage firm price updates over the past month, with the latest being on January 23, 2023 when Evercore ISI initiated the stock to “In-line” and issued a price target of $159. Citigroup downgraded the stock to “Sell” from Neutral on November 17, 2022 at a price target of $145-$125. Morgan Stanley resumed its price target at $142.
The current price level is 1.61%, -0.82%, and 6.64% away from its SMA20, SMA50, and SMA200 respectively, with the DGX price moving above the 50-day SMA on February 17. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (DGX) stock is up 2.36% over the week and 2.01% over the past month. Its price is -5.25% year-to-date and 12.53% over the past year.
The stock last released its quarterly earnings report for quarter ended 12/30/2022, with the company’s earnings per share (EPS) of $1.98 above consensus estimates by $0.07. The company’s next earnings report is expected on 04/20/2023, with forecasts estimating quarterly EPS at $1.98 and $8.71 for whole year. DGX’s earnings per share are forecast to shrink by -12.50% this year and 5.70% over next year. Expected sales for next quarter are $2.24 billion, which analysts say will come at $8.97 billion for the current fiscal year and next year at $9.17 billion. In addition, estimates put the company’s current quarterly revenue at an average of $2.2 billion.
Its 12-month price target is $150.00. To reach the target analysts have set, the stock logically needs to grow 1.27 percent from here. Of course, the average price target is just what the average analysts believe a stock will be worth in the next 52 weeks, and is only one metric. There are analysts with lower targets than the average, including one bearish Wall Street research firm advocating investors to wait for the price to pull back to $125.00, given the recent momentum. And then, on the bullish side of things, one analyst is expecting the stock to peak at $170.00.
Outstanding shares total 116.00M with insiders holding 0.74% of the shares and institutional holders owning 97.71% of the company’s common stock. The company has a return on investment of 16.90% and return on equity of 23.20%. The price to earnings ratio (P/E ratio) amounts to 18.73 while the forward price to earnings ratio is 16.09. The beta has a value of 0.93. Price to book ratio is 2.76 and price to sales ratio is 1.68.
According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Vanguard Total Stock Market Index has added its position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (DGX) to 3,485,013 shares, mirroring a recent increase by 0.70%. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index added 24134.0 shares of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated common stock bringing its total worth to about $517.45 million at the end of recent close, SEC documents show. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index isn’t the only investment manager who changed stakes and is followed by Vanguard Mid Cap Index Fund, which added 4257.0 shares to end up with 2,652,513 shares worth $393.85 million. Vanguard 500 Index Fund raise their holdings by 0.24% in the company over the course of the most recent quarter. It now holds a 2.32% position in Quest Diagnostics Incorporated thanks to 2.64 million shares amounting to $392.02 million.
