Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Shares Bought by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 25.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 54,553 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 10,933 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $12,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Trust Investment Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 2,567 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,084 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 315 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Arjuna Capital raised its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 1,819 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,559 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LH. TheStreet lowered shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a 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. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $222.00 target price on the stock. SVB Leerink initiated coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Friday, February 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 259 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.06, for a total value of $57,513.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 7,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,695,872.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.45, for a total transaction of $49,588.15. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 3,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,998.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Der Vaart Sandra D. Van sold 259 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.06, for a total transaction of $57,513.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,637 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,695,872.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,305 shares of company stock valued at $11,761,059 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock opened at $207.92 on Wednesday. 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 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 $17.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.52, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average is $212.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $214.85.

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

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 24th. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is 61.67%.

Laboratory Co. of America 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).