Cypress Capital Group Takes $217,000 Position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Cypress Capital Group acquired a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 973 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LH. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America during the second quarter worth $27,000. SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN purchased a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Laboratory Co. of America during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Laboratory Co. of America during the second quarter worth about $32,000. 95.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LH. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $282.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $255.92.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock opened at $240.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 52-week low of $191.97 and a 52-week high of $247.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $225.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $216.66.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.48 by $0.02. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 3.43%. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.38 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.47, for a total transaction of $1,506,835.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,289,260.27. This trade represents a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 13,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,156,060. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

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.