Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (LH) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.72 on December 13th

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 10th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of 0.72 per share by the medical research company on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th.

Laboratory Co. of America has a payout ratio of 18.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Laboratory Co. of America to earn $15.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.1%.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

LH opened at $239.67 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $226.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $217.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Laboratory Co. of America has a 1 year low of $191.97 and a 1 year high of $247.99. The firm has a market cap of $20.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.36, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.05.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.38 EPS. Laboratory Co. of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on 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. StockNews.com lowered Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $250.00 to $240.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $255.92.

Insider Activity

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of Laboratory Co. of America 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 87,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,289,260.27. The trade was a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 13,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,156,060. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.