Labcorp Holdings Inc. $LH Stock Bought by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Labcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LH) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,854 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 2,163 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of Labcorp worth $15,361,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new stake in shares of Labcorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $168,222,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Labcorp in the second quarter worth approximately $142,125,000. Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Labcorp in the second quarter worth approximately $133,460,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 47.3% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 579,036 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $154,493,000 after purchasing an additional 185,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Labcorp by 19.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 820,442 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $218,901,000 after purchasing an additional 133,549 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Labcorp Trading Up 0.2%

Labcorp stock opened at $371.79 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $328.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $291.56. The company has a market cap of $30.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.86. Labcorp Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $245.00 and a 52-week high of $373.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Labcorp (NYSE:LH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The medical research company reported $4.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $0.14. Labcorp had a net margin of 6.88% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The firm had revenue of $3.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.18 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Labcorp Holdings Inc. will post 18.51 EPS for the current year.

Labcorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 24th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 24th. Labcorp’s payout ratio is 23.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LH shares. Mizuho set a $355.00 price objective on shares of Labcorp in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Labcorp from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $388.00 target price on shares of Labcorp in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Labcorp from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Labcorp from $380.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $369.08.

Insider Activity at Labcorp

In other Labcorp news, Director Kerrii Anderson sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.02, for a total transaction of $954,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,087,165.26. This represents a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Richelle Parham sold 1,078 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.22, for a total transaction of $389,395.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,288 shares in the company, valued at $826,471.36. The trade was a 32.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,384 shares of company stock worth $1,451,687. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Labcorp Profile

Labcorp (NYSE: LH), formally Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, is a global life sciences company that provides diagnostic testing and services to patients, physicians, hospitals, employers and other health care organizations. Its offerings include routine and specialty laboratory tests, anatomic pathology and genetic testing. The company also supports pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with laboratory services for drug development and clinical trials, including testing and analysis used in research and clinical studies.