Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Trims Stake in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lowered its position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,438 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 460 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $1,439,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LH. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,342 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Insight Inv LLC boosted its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 1.3% in the second quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 3,530 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $718,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Athena Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 4.8% in the second quarter. Athena Investment Management now owns 1,040 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.7% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,055 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $683,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 43.3% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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, October 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $262.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $258.62.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Up 0.6 %

Laboratory Co. of America stock opened at $230.95 on Wednesday. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 52-week low of $191.97 and a 52-week high of $247.99. The company has a market cap of $19.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $221.07.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 3.43% and a return on equity of 15.27%. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.38 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.52 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Laboratory Co. of America

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,722 shares in the company, valued at $3,156,060. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.47, for a total transaction of $1,506,835.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,289,260.27. This trade represents a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 24,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,910,209. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America 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.