
Dividend Investing Ideas Center
Critical Facts You Need to Know About Preferred Stocks
Have you ever wished for the safety of bonds, but the return potential...
Quest Diagnostics Inc. (DGX) is the world’s leading provider of diagnostic information services, serving approximately one-third of the U.S. adult population and half of U.S. physicians and hospitals.
The company generated the vast majority of its revenue (96.8%) from its Diagnostic Information Services (DIS) segment, where 37% of its revenue came from healthcare insurers, 11% from government payers, 38% from client payers, and 11% from patients in 2020. The remaining 3.2% of its revenue came from its Diagnostic Services (DS) segment.
Quest Diagnostics reported fourth quarter revenue that rose 55.4% to $3 billion, beating consensus estimates by $80 million, along with non-GAAP earnings of $4.48 per share, beating consensus estimates by 24 cents. Cash from operations rose 61.3% to $2 billion and cash and equivalents ended the year at about $1.16 billion.
While investors are concerned about the so-called ‘COVID-19 cliff’ when testing falls off, Citi analyst Ralph Giacobbe sees a potential win-win for insurers and labs to gain greater visibility with a trade-off of lower COVID-19 reimbursement in exchange for more stable and positive longer-term pricing escalators.
The company raised its quarterly dividend by 10.7% to $0.62 per share, which represents a 1.93% forward yield. The dividend is payable on April 21, 2021 to shareholders on record as of April 7, 2021. The company also announced a $1 billion increase in its share repurchase authorization.
Want to keep track of all dividend increases? Subscribe to Dividend.com and have complete access to our exclusive dividend increases list here.