Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Director Kerrii B. Anderson Sells 1,000 Shares of Stock

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.00, for a total value of $235,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,989,670. The trade was a 7.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock opened at $234.18 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $234.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.25. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 1 year low of $191.97 and a 1 year high of $247.99.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.02. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 3.43% and a return on equity of 15.27%. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.52 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Laboratory Co. of America

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 3.2% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,342 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Insight Inv LLC grew its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.3% in the second quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 3,530 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Athena Investment Management increased its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 4.8% during the second quarter. Athena Investment Management now owns 1,040 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 1.7% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,055 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $683,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 43.3% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 172 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $262.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $275.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.54.

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

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.