Norges Bank Invests $239.81 Million in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,045,749 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,811,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LH. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $354,528,000 after purchasing an additional 230,708 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Laboratory Co. of America in the 3rd quarter worth about $596,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 1,488 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $332,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 17,689 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,953,000 after acquiring an additional 2,234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 5.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 49,203 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Laboratory Co. of America

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 500 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.63, for a total value of $127,815.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,365,624.58. This trade represents a 3.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.62, for a total transaction of $1,497,319.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 86,445 shares in the company, valued at $21,146,175.90. This represents a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,500 shares of company stock worth $3,577,572 in the last quarter. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on LH shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup raised Laboratory Co. of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $262.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.92.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Down 0.8 %

Laboratory Co. of America stock opened at $229.75 on Monday. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 1 year low of $191.97 and a 1 year high of $258.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $244.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $234.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $19.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.05, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.12.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 predict that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 16.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is presently 32.65%.

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.