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

Shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $243.50.

LH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Argus raised Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday. TheStreet downgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. SVB Leerink initiated coverage on Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays initiated coverage on Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $222.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Monday, February 26th.

Insider Activity at Laboratory Co. of America

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 237 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.45, for a total transaction of $53,668.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,729,398.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Laboratory Co. of America news, COO Mark S. Schroeder sold 5,048 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.45, for a total transaction of $1,102,735.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,100,114.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 237 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.45, for a total value of $53,668.65. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,729,398.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,775 shares of company stock worth $8,823,080 in the last quarter. 0.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Laboratory Co. of America

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LH. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,703,935 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,065,841,000 after acquiring an additional 743,824 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,859,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,863,118,000 after acquiring an additional 106,063 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,487,106 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $500,033,000 after buying an additional 424,684 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 102.6% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,219,291 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $446,189,000 after buying an additional 1,123,755 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,212,497 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $444,821,000 after buying an additional 483,878 shares in the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of LH opened at $213.52 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $219.39 and its 200 day moving average is $213.99. The company has a market capitalization of $17.96 billion, a PE ratio of 45.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.02. Laboratory Co. of America has a 12-month low of $174.20 and a 12-month high of $234.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical research company reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.02 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 13.99% and a net margin of 3.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.14 EPS. Research analysts expect that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is currently 61.67%.

About Laboratory Co. of America

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings operates as a life sciences company that provides vital information to help doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, researchers, and patients make clear and confident decisions. It operates in two segments, Labcorp Diagnostics (Dx) and Biopharma Laboratory Services (BLS).