Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Director Sells $51,032.50 in Stock

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.13, for a total transaction of $51,032.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,972 shares in the company, valued at $3,260,364.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

LH traded down $1.07 during trading on Thursday, reaching $200.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 593,723 shares, compared to its average volume of 766,163. The company has a market cap of $16.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.51, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $210.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $214.80. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 1 year low of $174.20 and a 1 year high of $234.09. 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 (NYSE:LH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.12 billion. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 3.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.82 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.87 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 28th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TheStreet cut Laboratory Co. of America from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays reduced their target price on Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Friday, February 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partnrs restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.14.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Laboratory Co. of America

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America in the fourth quarter valued at $291,045,000. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings 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 valued at $446,189,000 after buying an additional 1,123,755 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 644.2% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,280,884 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $257,522,000 after buying an additional 1,108,776 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 3,836.8% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 806,975 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $162,243,000 after buying an additional 786,477 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 28.0% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,212,497 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $444,821,000 after acquiring an additional 483,878 shares during the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).