Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.72

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 10th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.72 per share by the medical research company on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th.

Laboratory Co. of America has a payout ratio of 18.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Laboratory Co. of America to earn $15.88 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 Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of LH opened at $216.39 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $223.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.01. The stock has a market cap of $18.17 billion, a PE ratio of 40.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Laboratory Co. of America has a 52-week low of $191.97 and a 52-week high of $238.46.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The medical research company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.78 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.19 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.42 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LH. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Piper Sandler began coverage on Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $235.00 target price for the company. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI cut their target price 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, Truist Financial boosted 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.05, for a total value of $454,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,273.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Laboratory Co. of America news, CFO Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 15,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.99, for a total transaction of $3,359,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,008,423.11. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.05, for a total value of $454,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $833,273.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,679 shares of company stock valued at $6,716,306 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

About Laboratory Co. of America

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.