Stock Alert: Quest Diagnostics Shares Rise 4% In Pre-Market

(RTTNews) - Shares of Quest Diagnostics Inc. (DGX) touched a 52-week high of $118.58 on March 5, after the company announced that it would launch a coronavirus (COVID-19) test service. The stock is continuing its uptrend in pre-market today, and is currently trading at $120.80, up $5.12 or 4.43%.

DGX has been trading between $82.71 and $118.58 in the past one year, and closed Thursday's trade at $115.68, up 20 cents or 0.17%. Trading volume jumped to 3.84 million versus an average volume of 975K shares.

Quest, on March 5, said the new test service aids the presumptive detection of nucleic acid in respiratory specimens of patients meeting CDC's clinical criteria for COVID-19 testing.

The company would be in position to receive specimens for testing, and begin to provide testing on Monday, March 9, 2020. With the new service, Quest Diagnostics will provide access to a COVID-19 test service for patients in the United States.

The new test service will be provided as a laboratory developed test, pending review by the FDA under emergency use authorization (EUA) which the company would submit per FDA guidance within 15 days of clinical testing. The test is a molecular based assay which detects viral RNA in respiratory specimens.