SouthState Corp Makes New $28,000 Investment in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

SouthState Corp purchased a new position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 125 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Insight Inv LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.3% during the second quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 3,530 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $718,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Athena Investment Management boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 4.8% during the second quarter. Athena Investment Management now owns 1,040 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 1.7% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,055 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 43.3% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 172 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 5.1% in the second quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,089 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during 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 research firms have issued reports on LH. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. HSBC upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $282.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $255.92.

Laboratory Co. of America Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of LH stock opened at $237.85 on Thursday. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 1 year low of $191.97 and a 1 year high of $247.99. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $225.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.02. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 3.43% and a return on equity of 15.27%. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.38 earnings per share. Laboratory Co. of America’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.53 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $230,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,156,060. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.47, for a total transaction of $1,506,835.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,441 shares in the company, valued at $21,289,260.27. This trade represents a 6.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

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.