Financial Counselors Inc. Invests $12.86 Million in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Financial Counselors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 57,555 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,862,000. Financial Counselors Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Laboratory Co. of America as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 135.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,609,826 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $327,616,000 after acquiring an additional 924,881 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,949,640 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $396,771,000 after acquiring an additional 395,197 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. bought a new stake in Laboratory Co. of America during the 2nd quarter worth $73,928,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,865,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $416,893,000 after acquiring an additional 263,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,586,397 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $354,528,000 after acquiring an additional 230,708 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Up 1.4 %

LH stock opened at $242.15 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $227.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $217.95. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a fifty-two week low of $191.97 and a fifty-two week 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. The company has a market cap of $20.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

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 $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on LH. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Laboratory Co. of America from $245.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Laboratory Co. of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $255.92.

Insider Transactions at Laboratory Co. of America

In related 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 directly owns 87,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,289,260.27. This trade represents a 6.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $230,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,156,060. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,861 shares of company stock valued at $2,853,533 over the last ninety days. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Laboratory Co. of America

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.