Brokerages Set Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Price Target at $241.86

Shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $241.86.

A number of research firms recently commented on LH. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $255.00 to $244.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $270.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $261.00 to $243.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

LH opened at $203.86 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $202.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $212.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.05. Laboratory Co. of America has a 52-week low of $191.97 and a 52-week high of $234.09.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $3.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.20. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 3.52% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.87 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is currently 57.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 250 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.10, for a total value of $50,025.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,145,972.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Peter J. Wilkinson sold 2,439 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.33, for a total transaction of $498,360.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $426,436.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.10, for a total transaction of $50,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,145,972.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 4,939 shares of company stock worth $1,021,078. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Laboratory Co. of America

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 50.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 63.6% in the 2nd quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,287 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $465,000 after purchasing an additional 889 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 13.8% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 187,286 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $40,259,000 after purchasing an additional 22,759 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 127.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 3,659 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $799,000 after buying an additional 2,050 shares during the period. 95.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).