Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Mizuho

Mizuho restated their buy rating on shares of Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has a $257.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on LH. Truist Financial restated a buy rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 31st. HSBC started coverage on Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Wednesday, September 6th. They set a hold rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Credit Suisse Group reduced their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $247.41 to $231.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Sunday, September 10th. They set a hold rating for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $246.00.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:LH opened at $201.17 on Friday. Laboratory Co. of America has a 52-week low of $166.93 and a 52-week high of $222.33. The stock has a market cap of $17.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.70 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $212.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $220.17.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The medical research company reported $3.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.47 by ($0.05). Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 5.89%. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America will post 13.68 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 8th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 7th. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is currently 31.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Laboratory Co. of America

In other news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 212 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total value of $50,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,825,200. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 212 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total value of $50,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,825,200. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 5,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.57, for a total value of $1,057,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,275 shares in the company, valued at $3,231,731.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Laboratory Co. of America

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 6.2% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,703,935 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,065,841,000 after buying an additional 743,824 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,859,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,863,118,000 after buying an additional 106,063 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 0.4% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,701,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $619,740,000 after buying an additional 11,259 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 1.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,876,144 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $451,580,000 after buying an additional 33,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 532.2% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,530,675 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $360,441,000 after buying an additional 1,288,574 shares during the last quarter. 89.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings operates as a life sciences company that provides vital information to help doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, researchers, and patients make clear and confident decisions. It operates in two segments, Labcorp Diagnostics and Labcorp Drug Development.