Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (LH) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 28th

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 11th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be given a dividend of 0.72 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 28th.

Laboratory Co. of America has a dividend payout ratio of 17.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Laboratory Co. of America to earn $16.01 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 Stock Down 0.4 %

LH stock opened at $205.73 on Friday. Laboratory Co. of America has a fifty-two week low of $174.20 and a fifty-two week high of $234.09. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $215.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $214.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.17. The company has a market capitalization of $17.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.01.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical research company reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by $0.01. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 13.99% and a net margin of 3.24%. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.14 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Laboratory Co. of America will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 34,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.97, for a total transaction of $7,451,828.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 23,595 shares in the company, valued at $5,095,812.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 34,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.97, for a total transaction of $7,451,828.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 23,595 shares in the company, valued at $5,095,812.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Mark S. Schroeder sold 6,477 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.29, for a total transaction of $1,407,387.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,094,272.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,305 shares of company stock worth $11,761,059 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LH. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America in the fourth quarter worth about $74,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 43.0% in the fourth quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 319 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America in the fourth quarter worth about $126,000. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 64.2% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 560 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LH has been the topic of several analyst reports. SVB Leerink initiated coverage on Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Friday, February 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. TheStreet cut Laboratory Co. of America from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $222.00 price objective on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.50.

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

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).