Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) CMO Sells $877,277.52 in Stock

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) CMO Amy B. Summy sold 3,672 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.91, for a total value of $877,277.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 4,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,031,613.38. The trade was a 45.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

Laboratory Co. of America stock opened at $242.15 on Friday. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a one year low of $191.97 and a one year high of $247.99. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $227.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $217.95. The company has a market cap of $20.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.05.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company 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 earnings per share. Laboratory Co. of America’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LH. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 99.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,178 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $476,000 after buying an additional 1,085 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 2.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 114,488 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,012,000 after buying an additional 2,934 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 13.7% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,433 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $690,000 after buying an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 10.4% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 6,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after buying an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 2.8% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 47,384 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,352,000 after buying an additional 1,289 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $282.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. HSBC raised Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI decreased 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. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $245.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $255.92.

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.