Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) PT Raised to $249.00

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) had its price target increased by Barclays from $234.00 to $249.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the medical research company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $250.00 to $240.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $282.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Laboratory Co. of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.54.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:LH opened at $228.63 on Friday. Laboratory Co. of America has a 12 month low of $191.97 and a 12 month high of $239.50. The firm has a market cap of $19.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $222.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $212.44.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $230,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,722 shares in the company, valued at $3,156,060. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.10, for a total value of $2,770,506.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,921 shares in the company, valued at $3,647,501.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $230,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,156,060. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,679 shares of company stock valued at $6,946,306 in the last quarter. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Laboratory Co. of America

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,949,640 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $396,771,000 after acquiring an additional 395,197 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,865,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $416,893,000 after buying an additional 263,105 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 135.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,609,826 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $327,616,000 after buying an additional 924,881 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,417,645 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $288,519,000 after acquiring an additional 33,497 shares during the period. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 26.8% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 928,250 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $188,908,000 after acquiring an additional 196,119 shares during the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

Labcorp Holdings Inc provides laboratory services. It operates through two segments, Diagnostics Laboratories and Biopharma Laboratory Services. The company offers various tests, such as blood chemistry analyses, urinalyses, blood cell counts, thyroid, PAP, hemoglobin A1C and vitamin D, prostate-specific antigens, sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis C, microbiology cultures and procedures, and alcohol and other substance-abuse tests.