Adam H. Schechter Sells 6,189 Shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Stock

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.47, for a total transaction of $1,506,835.83. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,289,260.27. The trade was a 6.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

LH opened at $238.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market cap of $19.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.62, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $223.96 and a 200 day moving average of $215.25. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a fifty-two week low of $191.97 and a fifty-two week high of $247.99.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 3.43%. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.53 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LH. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 185.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,453 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $973,000 after purchasing an additional 2,893 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 2,771 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $605,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 9.5% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 131,756 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,784,000 after buying an additional 11,441 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 18.2% during the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 415 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 5.9% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,729 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on LH. Truist Financial raised their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI dropped 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 report on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $255.92.

About Laboratory Co. of America

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.