Kerrii B. Anderson Sells 1,000 Shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Stock

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.00, for a total value of $235,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,989,670. This trade represents a 7.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LH opened at $234.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $19.59 billion, a PE ratio of 45.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $234.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $224.32. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 12 month low of $191.97 and a 12 month high of $247.99.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.38 EPS. Laboratory Co. of America’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is 55.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $262.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $275.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.54.

Institutional Trading of Laboratory Co. of America

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Hawaiian Bank grew its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 6,282 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,052,927 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $243,321,000 after buying an additional 68,974 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 128.4% in the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,820 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,105,000 after buying an additional 2,710 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 35.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,163 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 562 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 1,193.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 207 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% 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.