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 earnings per share guidance of $8.80-9.00 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $8.85. The company issued revenue guidance of $9.50-9.58 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $9.46 billion. Quest Diagnostics also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 8.800-9.000 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on DGX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Quest Diagnostics from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $153.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Quest Diagnostics from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Quest Diagnostics from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Quest Diagnostics from $139.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $149.38.

Quest Diagnostics Stock Performance

Shares of Quest Diagnostics stock traded up $2.43 on Thursday, hitting $146.34. The stock had a trading volume of 259,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 984,879. The stock has a market cap of $16.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50 day moving average is $141.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Quest Diagnostics has a twelve month low of $119.59 and a twelve month high of $150.59.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.04. Quest Diagnostics had a return on equity of 15.49% and a net margin of 8.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Quest Diagnostics will post 8.87 EPS for the current year.

Quest Diagnostics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 8th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 8th. Quest Diagnostics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Karthik Kuppusamy sold 1,760 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $246,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,435 shares in the company, valued at $1,880,900. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

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.