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

Shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $241.29.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $258.00 to $261.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $261.00 to $243.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $270.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock opened at $210.75 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $203.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $210.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Laboratory Co. of America has a twelve month low of $191.97 and a twelve month high of $234.09. The stock has a market cap of $17.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.05.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 29th. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is currently 57.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.83, for a total value of $421,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,637 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,188,448.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.10, for a total transaction of $50,025.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,722 shares in the company, valued at $3,145,972.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 2,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.83, for a total value of $421,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,188,448.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Laboratory Co. of America

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LH. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 58.8% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,613,854 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $352,563,000 after buying an additional 597,571 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 135.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,609,826 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $327,616,000 after purchasing an additional 924,881 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Laboratory Co. of America in the 4th quarter worth about $291,045,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,163,252 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $264,396,000 after purchasing an additional 33,493 shares during the period. Finally, Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Veritas Investment Partners UK Ltd. now owns 1,140,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $259,133,000 after buying an additional 279,628 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

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).