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

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 8th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of 0.72 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%.

Laboratory Co. of America has a payout ratio of 16.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Laboratory Co. of America to earn $15.96 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 18.0%.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:LH traded down $0.92 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $234.18. The stock had a trading volume of 439,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 537,589. Laboratory Co. of America has a 52 week low of $191.97 and a 52 week high of $247.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $234.30 and its 200 day moving average is $224.18. The stock has a market cap of $19.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.44.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $275.00 target price (up from $265.00) on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI raised Laboratory Co. of America from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Laboratory Co. of America

In other news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,156,060. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 11,711 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.43, for a total transaction of $2,815,675.73. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,289 shares in the company, valued at $7,522,814.27. This trade represents a 27.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,572 shares of company stock worth $6,145,209. 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.