Insider Selling: Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) EVP Sells 12,093 Shares of Stock

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) EVP Lance Berberian sold 12,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.10, for a total value of $2,770,506.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,921 shares in the company, valued at $3,647,501.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Down 2.5 %

LH traded down $5.57 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $220.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 118,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 720,319. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a twelve month low of $191.97 and a twelve month high of $238.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $206.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $210.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.41, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.05.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The medical research company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.78 by $0.16. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.42 earnings per share. Laboratory Co. of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.84 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 29th. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is 57.95%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Laboratory Co. of America

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LH. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 2.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 114,488 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,012,000 after buying an additional 2,934 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,163,252 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $264,396,000 after buying an additional 33,493 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 17.0% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,019 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $22,069,000 after buying an additional 14,708 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 1,715.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 175,176 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,814,000 after buying an additional 165,528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 283.1% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 23,217 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,072,000 after buying an additional 17,156 shares in the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on LH shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $261.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.15.

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).