Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) PT Raised to $261.00

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) had its target price increased by equities research analysts at Robert W. Baird from $258.00 to $261.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 30.93% from the stock’s current price.

LH has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com lowered Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Argus raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Truist Financial cut their target price 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.29.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

Shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock opened at $199.35 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $16.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.88 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $202.24 and its 200 day moving average is $211.94.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $3.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.20. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 3.52%. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.87 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,188,448.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 completion of the transaction, 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 link. Also, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 2,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.83, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,939 shares of company stock valued at $1,021,078 in the last three months. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 20.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,487,106 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $500,033,000 after acquiring an additional 424,684 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 102.6% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,219,291 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $446,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123,755 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 58.8% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 597,571 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the fourth quarter worth $291,045,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position 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 worth $264,396,000 after buying an additional 33,493 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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).