Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Shares Purchased by Simplicity Solutions LLC

Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,310 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 64 shares during the quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LH. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 532.2% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,530,675 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $360,441,000 after buying an additional 1,288,574 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 102.6% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,219,291 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $446,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123,755 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 644.2% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,280,884 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $257,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,108,776 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the fourth quarter worth $219,236,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 3,836.8% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 806,975 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $162,243,000 after purchasing an additional 786,477 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LH. Barclays began coverage on Laboratory Co. of America in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $222.00 price objective on the stock. SVB Leerink began coverage on Laboratory Co. of America in a report on Monday, February 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective on the stock. TheStreet lowered Laboratory Co. of America from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Argus raised Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Friday, February 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 259 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.06, for a total transaction of $57,513.54. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,637 shares in the company, valued at $1,695,872.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 259 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.06, for a total value of $57,513.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,637 shares in the company, valued at $1,695,872.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 227 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.45, for a total value of $49,588.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 3,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,998.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,305 shares of company stock worth $11,761,059 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:LH opened at $199.44 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $214.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $214.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 12 month low of $174.20 and a 12 month high of $234.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.78 billion, a PE ratio of 42.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.01.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The medical research company reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.02 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 13.99% and a net margin of 3.24%. The firm’s revenue was down 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.14 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.67%.

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 (Dx) and Biopharma Laboratory Services (BLS).