Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Invests $283,000 in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new position in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 1,235 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LH. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 11.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 620,721 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $138,718,000 after purchasing an additional 65,356 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,930,395 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $431,405,000 after buying an additional 167,137 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital bought a new stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America during the 4th quarter worth $203,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $904,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,525 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,496,000 after buying an additional 1,205 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on LH shares. Citigroup raised Laboratory Co. of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Laboratory Co. of America from $293.00 to $286.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of Laboratory Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Laboratory Co. of America in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $276.00 price target for the company. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $274.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued 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 price target of $270.62.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:LH opened at $249.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.82. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 12-month low of $191.97 and a 12-month high of $258.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $233.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $237.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The medical research company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.11. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 5.73%. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 16.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 29th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.29%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Peter J. Wilkinson sold 829 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.26, for a total value of $200,833.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $497,602.04. This trade represents a 28.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Adam H. Schechter sold 6,105 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.73, for a total value of $1,518,496.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 98,962 shares in the company, valued at $24,614,818.26. This represents a 5.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 16,971 shares of company stock valued at $4,193,073. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Laboratory Co. of America

Labcorp Holdings, Inc engages in providing medical testing services. The company was founded on April 16, 2024 and is headquartered in Burlington, NC.