Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) CAO Peter J. Wilkinson Sells 2,439 Shares

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) CAO Peter J. Wilkinson sold 2,439 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.33, for a total transaction of $498,360.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,087 shares in the company, valued at $426,436.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Laboratory Co. of America Price Performance

LH stock opened at $201.32 on Thursday. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 12 month low of $174.20 and a 12 month high of $234.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $210.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $214.80. The stock has a market cap of $16.94 billion, a PE ratio of 40.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.02.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $3.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.20. Laboratory Co. of America had a net margin of 3.52% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 28th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Laboratory Co. of America’s payout ratio is 57.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Laboratory Co. of America

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 25,354 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,097,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 8,509 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,711,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Alexander Randolph Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $942,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,091,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 64,435 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,645,000 after purchasing an additional 5,105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on LH shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. SVB Leerink started coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective on the stock. TheStreet downgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Argus upgraded shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $270.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.14.

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).