Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Acquires New Position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 51,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,397,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SouthState Corp bought a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of LH opened at $242.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $227.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $217.95. 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 1 year low of $191.97 and a 1 year high of $247.99.

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

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LH shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $234.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on 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. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $250.00 to $240.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $255.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,189 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 87,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,289,260.27. This represents a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 3,672 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.91, for a total value of $877,277.52. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 4,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,031,613.38. This represents a 45.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,861 shares of company stock valued at $2,853,533. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.