Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $255.92.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com downgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $245.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. HSBC raised Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, 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 research note on Friday, October 25th.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

LH opened at $241.16 on Monday. Laboratory Co. of America has a 1-year low of $191.97 and a 1-year high of $247.99. The stock has a market cap of $20.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $227.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.25. 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 (NYSE:LH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 3.43%. Laboratory Co. of America’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is 55.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 3,672 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.91, for a total transaction of $877,277.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 4,318 shares in the company, valued at $1,031,613.38. This represents a 45.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 1,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.42, for a total value of $239,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,670 shares in the company, valued at $639,251.40. This represents a 27.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,861 shares of company stock valued at $2,853,533 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Laboratory Co. of America

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN acquired a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the second quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

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.