Insider Selling: Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) CMO Sells 3,672 Shares of Stock

Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) CMO Amy B. Summy sold 3,672 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 4,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,031,613.38. The trade was a 45.96 % 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 LH stock opened at $238.73 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $226.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.61. The firm has a market cap of $19.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.18, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.05. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 1 year low of $191.97 and a 1 year high of $247.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $3.28 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.38 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 14.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Laboratory Co. of America

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LH. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 99.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,178 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $476,000 after buying an additional 1,085 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 2.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 114,488 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,012,000 after buying an additional 2,934 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 13.7% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,433 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $690,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 10.4% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 6,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,385,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its holdings in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 2.8% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 47,384 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,352,000 after buying an additional 1,289 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LH shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $250.00 to $240.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. HSBC raised Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Laboratory Co. of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $255.92.

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.