Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

LH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $293.00 to $286.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $250.00 to $300.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.92.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Up 1.2 %

LH opened at $232.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $244.68 and a 200-day moving average of $234.78. Laboratory Co. of America has a fifty-two week low of $191.97 and a fifty-two week high of $258.59. The company has a market capitalization of $19.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.12.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $3.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.05. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 5.73% and a return on equity of 15.29%. On average, equities analysts expect that Laboratory Co. of America will post 16.01 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 226 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.40, for a total transaction of $56,590.40. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 4,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,137,817.60. The trade was a 4.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 1,314 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.30, for a total transaction of $330,208.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $545,572.30. The trade was a 37.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,258 shares of company stock worth $3,753,177 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 17.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,586,397 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $354,528,000 after acquiring an additional 230,708 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $596,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 1,488 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 14.5% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 17,689 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,953,000 after buying an additional 2,234 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 5.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 914,019 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,265,000 after buying an additional 49,203 shares during the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

Labcorp Holdings, Inc engages in providing medical testing services. The company was founded on April 16, 2024 and is headquartered in Burlington, NC.